Biography of André Breton

Discovering art

19 February 1896
September 28, 1966
André Breton was born on 19 February 1896 in Tinchebray (France), the only son of Louis and Marguerite. He moved with his family to a child, attended Religious Saint Pantin Elisabeth before entering the school district of the city, where it's an excellent student. In 1907 he enrolled as external to the College Chaptal in Paris, showing a flair for the German language: it is in these years, among other things, that develops his passion for poetry; in 1912, Breton wrote two poems for "Vers idéal", the magazine of the school where you signed with the pseudonym René Dobrant, an anagram of his name.

The poems and art

Discovering the works of Baudelaire, Huysmans, Mallarmé and even comes close to the figurative arts interested in Paul Signac, Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard and Gustave Moreau. While politically shows involved from anarchism, André Breton in 1913 he enrolled at the University in the school of medicine and continues to write poetry (some published in the journal "Phalange"): for this reason decides to bring them to the attention of Paul Valéry, for having an opinion. Called up for military service in 1915, Breton writes the play "Décembre", shipping to Apollinaire; the following year composed-while it is stationed as a military nurse in Nantes-"Age," his first prose poem heavily influenced by Rimbaud. During this period he assumed also to be devoted to psychiatry.

New friends and new arts

Back in Paris, he became friends with Apollinaire and met Jacques Vaché and Joseph Babinski, besides Philippe Soupault and Pierre Reverdy. Also writes about "Mercure de France", and maintains relations with Louis Aragon, in turn medical student. It is thanks to him that in 1918 discovers the Comte de Lautréamont. The following year revealed to Tristan Tzara involvement for the "Dada Manifesto 3", and together with Soupault and Aragon he founded the magazine "Littérature", that will also work Paul Morand, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob and Jean Giraudoux. Meanwhile, at Au Sans Pareil released his first collection of poetry, Mont de pieté ", enriched by illustrations by André Derain. Passed the exam that allows him to become a doctor, Breton befriends Francis Picabia and in 1920 adheres with conviction to Dadaism. Decides, therefore, to abandon his medical studies and working for Gaston Gallimard to subscription service of the "Nouvelle Revue Française". Publish, besides, "Champs magnetiques", always at Au Sans Pareil, but soon get tired of, inclusiveness of Dadaism.

Towards surrealism

In 1921 accepts the proposal of Jacques Doucet to work as a librarian, and he married Simone Kahn: the wedding (which Paul Valéry witness) follows a honeymoon trip that took him to Vienna, where he met Sigmund Freud. In 1923 , André Breton gives prints "Clair de terre", a collection of thirty poems and five short stories with a portrait of the author performed by Picasso, and "Les Pas perdus", an anthology of articles. The following year, signing the first manifesto of Surrealism, they contribute-among others-also Pierre Naville, Roger Vitrac and Robert Desnos, Benjamin Péret: ACE is enclosed "Poisson soluble", a collection of Breton. With its work and its various activities, Breton is considered one of the leading theorists of the surrealist movement. After closing "Littérature" and have founded another magazine, "La Révolution surréaliste" taketh publicly stand against Anatole France: but in the meantime, her marriage to Simone goes into crisis. While the surrealist provocation becomes increasingly politics (and the Group stray Soupault, Naville and Artaud), Breton chose to come close to psychiatry, attending classes of the Sant'Anna hospital. In 1927 he met Suzanne Muzard, with whom he falls in love with (the married the following year, after having divorced Simon) and writes the "Introduction au discours sur le peu de réalité". After having conducted a survey on sexuality published in "La Révolution surréaliste", become a friend of Salvador Dali and Georges Sadoul, and fell in love at the movies. Gives the green light to "Le Surrèalisme au service de la Révolution", a new magazine whose first issue was published in the summer of 1930, and publishes collections "Ralentir travaux", "The Immaculate Conception" and "Union libre". Later, the Nazi expansion and the approaching war change his plans: drafted after the invasion of Poland by Germany, working as a military doctor in Poitiers; then, publishes the "Anthologie de l'humour noir", a work which is banned after Hitler in Paris.

The exile

Breton, whose name is entered in the list of Communists, decides to go into exile. He took refuge in the South of France in Martigues by his friend Pierre Mabille, then moves in Marseille and on board a ship goes to Martinique, where he met Aimé Césaire. From there he moved to New York, where he was helped also by Peggy Guggenheim, which contributes to its maintenance budget. Afterwards, he meets Elisa Claro, which marries: after a journey through Canada, Haiti and Santo Domingo, the two return to France. In Paris, however, André Breton no longer feels at ease, even for the many changes that have affected the intellectual scope.

The last years

In 1947 organized an exhibition together with Duchamp that would revive the surrealism, but the result is not the best. In 1960 subscribes to the "Manifeste des 121" that stands against the war in Algeria. André Breton died on 28 September 1966 in Paris, where he had been taken after being stricken by a respiratory crisis while in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie on vacation.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.