A pioneer of institutional psychotherapy and a figure in contemporary Lozère history, Dr François Tosquelles (1912-1994) is currently in the spotlight at the Musée des Abattoirs -Frac Occitanie, in Toulouse, with an exhibition entitled Deconniatry.

The exhibition that follows the life of François Tosquelles looks back on his career as a Spanish republican in Catalonia before exile in France, the creation of institutional psychiatry at the hospital of Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole and the appearance of the art brut, in which François Tosquelles played an important role.

The Departmental Heritage Conservation granted the exhibition the exceptional loan of the work The little house, by Auguste Forestier, property of the Department. The departmental archives of Lozère also participated in this exhibition by loaning documents. Two notes from the General Information collection of 1942 and 1943, concerning the political situation in Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole and an accusation of a revolutionary brought against François Tosquelles are thus exposed.

The departmental archives also lent five issues of Hyphen, the internal newspaper of the hospital of Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole, produced by the patients and the doctors of the establishment. The exhibition, recognized as being of national interest by the Ministry of Culture, is on view until March 6, 2022