Born out of wedlock, Serge Sauphar was recognized by his father but never truly found his place in a family soon marked by the latter’s death in 1929. Sauphar was raised by his mother, an artist. As a teenager, he contracted tuberculosis and was sent to a sanatorium under his mother’s name—which may have saved him from deportation, a fate suffered by his half-brother (his father had entered into a “proper” marriage after Serge’s birth). In 1948, at the age of twenty-six, he was admitted to Ville-Évrard Psychiatric Hospital following an episode of wandering and confusion. He remained for six years in the care of Dr. Dublineau, then was transferred to Hôpital Esquirol under Professor Baruk, later succeeded by Professor Lantéri-Laura. He died there in 1987 after uninterrupted hospitalization, during which he was known by all who encountered him as “the painter.” He had managed to create his own studio where he worked tirelessly, receiving visitors to whom he would always offer artworks, even art books, as he was convinced that art would redeem the world: he contributed to this in his own way, using the funds he had inherited. Funds that could have allowed him to stay in a comfortable private clinic, but he refused to leave the hospital. His work follows in the lineage of his father and grandfather, both major collectors, particularly of Asian art, and reflects an uncommon erudition. His literary and artistic culture also reveals extensive historical knowledge, interwoven with his personal history and his quest for identity.
SAUPHAR serge
