Ernst was also working on Au Rendez-vous des Amis (The Meeting of Friends) his famous portrait of Littérature’s protagonists, in which he prophetically depicted Gala, the only woman in the painting, as an independent soul searching for new horizons. Gala, who is standing next to a bust of the group’s idol, Giorgio de Chirico, has turned her back to

One evening, as a special treat, she and her brothers were allowed to read to each other from Lermontov’s fairy tale “Démon,” the story of an immortal fiend condemned to wander the earth in infinite isolation until he meets and falls in love with Tamara, a beautiful princess whom he ruthlessly pursues. Pitying the demon’s troubled soul, Tamara

There was also love. It was while he was working on the Eaubonne house panels that Ernst created his erotic masterpiece: La Belle Jardinière (The Beautiful Gardener), which is a luscious nude of Gala named after a painting of the Madonna by Raphael.

Gala and Cécile were surely relieved when the large village church that jutted into the ocean like the prow of a boat appeared suddenly through a cleft in the hills and they knew they had nearly reached their destination. The Éluards checked into Cadaqués’s only hotel, a rudimentary white stucco building named La Miramar. It had a view of the

The bed was draped in red satin and velvet, its red velvet headboard flanked by two suits of armor suitable for a medieval-style joust.

Cécile Simone Andonyle Grindel, a sweet little girl who took after her father, was born prematurely at home on the evening of May 10, 1918, after an excruciating, prolonged, and life-threatening labor.1 Jeanne, conscious of her daughter-in-law’s postpartum fragility, swooped in to care for the infant. Thus Cécile, whose health was supervised

The vernissage, which ended up being more of a happening than an ordinary art opening, did not disappoint. Cultural celebrities such as André Gide and painter Kees van Dongen turned out to watch Aragon impersonating a kangaroo in the cellar and Soupault playing hide-and-seek by himself on the first floor. As soon as night fell, the lights were

Isidore Ducasse’s dark, Gothic epic Les Chants de Maldoror was the major inspiration for his nearly finished collaboration with Breton, Les Champs Magnétiques (Magnetic Fields), the legendary first book of automatic writing (published by Au Sans Pareil in 1920). André and he dedicated this masterpiece to their scapegrace hero, Jacques Vaché. Breton

Just before 7:00 p.m., ice sculptures of animals were placed on the tables, and fresh white magnolias were pinned to the headboard of the bed, where a glowing Gala reclined with the five-month-old lion snuggled beside her. By 7:00, the newsreel cameramen from Paramount, Pathé Newsreel, and Universal were allowed in to shoot background footage