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Henri Michaux
Sign in to saveFrench painter, poet and writer (1899–1984)
OverviewAI-generated
Henri Eugène Marie Michaux was a French and Belgian painter, poet, writer, and illustrator. Born in Namur in 1899, he was educated at the Free University of Brussels. He wrote in French and began his work period in 1933, continuing until 1984. Michaux participated in Documenta II, Documenta III, and Documenta 6.
His notable works include *Connaissance par les gouffres*, *En rêvant à partir de peintures énigmatiques*, *La psilocybine*, *Signos febriles y frágiles*, and *La Nuit remue*. He received the Grand prix national des Lettres and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His works are held in the collections of the Belvedere, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Tate, and Städel Museum. He died in the 14th arrondissement of Paris in 1984.
Synthesized by Vinony from 26 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Europeana Sparql. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1899
- Died
- 1984
- Works
- 201
Top works
- Connaissance par les gouffres
- En rêvant à partir de peintures énigmatiques
- La psilocybine
- Signos febriles y frágiles
- La Nuit remue
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1899-05-24 ) 24 May 1899, Namur , Belgium
- Died
- 19 October 1984 (1984-10-19) (aged 85), Paris, France
- Occupation
- Poet, journalist and painter
- Genre
- Surrealism , asemic writing
- Notable works
- My Properties (1929); Plume (1938); Miserable Miracle: Mescaline (1956)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Henri
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Belgium
- Place of birth
- Namur
- Place of death
- 14th arrondissement of Paris
- Occupation
- draftsperson
- Educated at
- Free University of Brussels
- Languages spoken
- French
- Participant in
- Documenta 6
Show 9 more facts
- date of birth
- 1899-05-24
- date of death
- 1984-10-19
- described by source
- UbuWeb
- nominated for
- Nobel Prize in Literature
- has works in the collection
- Sainsbury Centre
- writing language
- French
- start of work period
- 1933-00-00
- birth name
- Henri Eugène Marie Michaux
- end of work period
- 1984-01-01
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
12 objects attributed to Henri Michaux, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Henri Michaux ( French: [ɑ̃ʁi miʃo]; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French experimental poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York had shows of his work in 1978 (see below, Visual Arts). His autobiographical texts that chronicle his psychedelic experiments with LSD and mescaline include Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones. He is recognised for his idiosyncratic travelogues and books of art criticism. Michaux is also known for his stories about Plume – "a peaceable man" – one of the most unenterprising heroes in literature, a character subject to many misfortunes.
His poetic works have often been republished in France, where they are studied along with significant poets of French literature. In 1955 he became a citizen of France, and he lived the rest of his life there. He became a friend of Romanian pessimist philosopher Emil Cioran around the same time, along with other literary luminaries in France. In 1965 he won the grand prix national des Lettres, which he refused to accept, as he did every honor he was accorded in his life.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Henri Michaux” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.