Born into a family of miners in Pas-de-Calais, France, Augustin Lesage (1876 –1954) worked in the mines until 1911, when a mysterious voice foretold that he would become a painter. Introduced to spiritualism, he began creating intricate drawings and paintings, which he attributed to spirits, including that of his deceased sister.
His first monumental canvas, completed between 1912 and 1913, marked the emergence of a distinctive style : symmetrical compositions densely adorned with architectural and ornamental motifs inspired by Egyptian and Oriental Art. After a hiatus due to World War I, he permanently left the mines in 1923 to fully dedicate himself to his art, becoming a key figure in the spiritualist movement.
Lesage's work drew the attention of André Breton and Jean Dubuffet, the latter of whom included him in the Collection de l’Art Brut in 1948. Recognized as a pioneer of Art Brut and abstraction, he left behind nearly 800 works.
His works are held in several notable collections, including Collection de l'Art Brut (Lausanne, CH) ; Collection de l’Aracine - Lille Métropole Musée d'Art Moderne, d'Art Contemporain et d'Art Brut (FR) ; Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris, FR) ; Institut Métapsychique International (Paris, FR) ; Zander Collection (Cologne, DE).