Dated 24 August 1980, Shamanic Landscape with a Figure (Paysage chamanique avec un personage) belongs to the final years of Jean Dubuffet’s career, when the artist pushed his graphic language towards an almost visionary freedom.

The work unfolds as a space traversed by floating lines, shifting signs and enigmatic formsthat seem to emerge from an inner world rather than from the observation of reality.

The term “shamanic,” chosen by Dubuffet for the title, is particularly revealing. In the Western imagination, the shaman is one who crosses the boundaries between the visible and the invisible worlds. Here, the landscape evokes neither a geographical site nor a narrative scene, but rather a mental realm populated by signs, presences and energies. The

solitary figure moving through this environment suggests an experience of passage, transformation and inner exploration.

The significance of the work is further reinforced by its inclusion in the major retrospective Jean Dubuffet held at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 1981.