Paul Éluard

Éluard met Breton, Soupault and Aragon while they were still aligned with Dada. He was involved in the on-stage fracas with Tzara that marked the surrealists’ break with Dada. Picasso and Ernst (with whom he engaged in two collaborations) were lifelong friends; Miró, Man Ray and Dalí (for whom his wife left him) were among his other artist friends. He and Breton corresponded with de Chirico. Poulenc set 34 of his poems to music, he wrote verses for a book of Bellmer’s ‘doll’ photos, and Magritte responded to a poem Éluard wrote about him by drawing his portrait.