Portrait of the Soldier Lucien Geominne (Portrait du soldat Lucien Geominne)

Portrait of the Soldier Lucien Geominne is one of many portraits that Dubuffet created between the mid-1940s and early 1950s. Dubuffet famously promoted his first exhibition of portraits in 1946 with the tag line, “People are much more handsome than they think. Long live their true faces.” The distortions in his portraits of this era might suggest some degree of sarcasm in this claim. However, the unbridled enthusiasm of Dubuffet’s statement counteracts any possibility of simple mockery, as does his larger goal of reevaluating what—and who— can be considered beautiful.