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Henri Michaux

1899–1984

Untitled Chinese Ink Drawing 1961
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2025
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In Tate Modern

In the Studio

Free
In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Rooms

1 artworks by Henri Michaux
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Biography

Henri Michaux (French: [ɑ̃ʁi miʃo]; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French 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 major 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" – perhaps the most unenterprising hero in the history of literature, a character subject to many misfortunes.

His poetic works have often been republished in France, where they are studied along with major 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.

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Art informel

Artworks

  • [no title]

    Henri Michaux
    1975–6
    View by appointment
  • Untitled Chinese Ink Drawing

    Henri Michaux
    1961
    On display at Tate Modern part of In the Studio

Artist as subject

  • Monsieur Plume with Creases in his Trousers (Portrait of Henri Michaux)

    Jean Dubuffet
    1947
    On display at Tate Modern part of In the Studio

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