Henri Michaux
French painter, poet and writer (1899–1984)
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.
Biography
Travels
In 1930 and 1931, Michaux visited Japan, China and India.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q160780. VIAF identifies the subject as 54151507. The Library of Congress control number is n80044759. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1984, 1978 and 1955.
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This entry incorporates text from “Henri Michaux” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.