Augustin Lesage

Augustin Lesage (August 9, 1876 – February 21, 1954) was a French coal miner who became a painter and artist through the help of what he considered to be spirit voices.

[1] Lesage was born in Saint-Pierre-les-Auchel, Pas-de-Calais, into a family of miners and was sent to work in a coal mine from an early age.

[1] Lesage went on to develop a highly symmetrical style, drafting detailed patterns and monolithic constructions reminiscent of Egyptian and Oriental architectural forms.

The collector Jean Dubuffet integrated Lesage paintings into his collection in 1948, and bought his first "historic" canvas for 50,000 francs in 1964.

Today, most of his works are held by the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art in France.