JACQUES PRÉVERT Français , 1900-1977

Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter.

The author of a first success, the collection of poems "Paroles", he became the great poet of poetic realism, a popular poet thanks to his colloquial language and his play on words. 

In 1925, he joined the Surrealist movement, where he met Marcel Duhamel, Raymond Queneau, Yves Tanguy and André Breton. Jacques Prévert's political commitment was sincere. It was Prévert, an unclassifiable Surrealist, who found the term « cadavre exquis » to define the literary game he and his friends played.

Jacques Prévert was a draughtsman and made many collages.

From the 1950s onwards, living in Cité Véron, Jacques Prévert got into the habit of writing down his timetable and appointments on large sheets of paper, with only the day of the week for each date, distinguished by a different, ever-changing drawing of a flower. Small sketches illustrate the appointments and imperatives: cutlery, a bottle and glasses for a meal, scissors if it's the hairdresser, a sun to announce Picasso, a cat for Paul Grimault, and so on. It's a curious mix of appointments, often combining everyday tasks with the most prestigious names: Doisneau, Arletty, Montand, Miro, Trauner, Mac Orlan, Piaf and many others. These ephemerides are another reminder that Prévert's writing is highly visual and that colour has a special place in it, turning a trivial everyday object into a veritable work of art. 

Jacques Prévert was the scriptwriter and dialogue writer for some of the great French films of 1935-1945: "Le Quai des brumes", "Le jour se lève", "Les Visiteurs du soir", "Les Enfants du paradis" and "Les Portes de la nuit" by Marcel Carné, "Le Crime de Monsieur Lange" by Jean Renoir, "Remorques et Lumière d'été" by Jean Grémillon.

In Paris, he lived in the Montmartre district, behind the Moulin Rouge, on the same floor as Boris Vian.