Apollinaire (1880-1918):

Of Polish descent; one of the early 20th-century intelligentsia who led the schools of Cubism and Futurism , and France's first moderm poet. Alcools and Calligrammes abandoned punctuation and experimented with typographical patterns.

Baudelaire (1821-67):

Pet, critic, translator of Edgar Allan Poe . Introduced a modern sensibility and explored the musicality of French language. With his mulatto mistress, he led a debauched life of opium and alcohol, haunted by a sense of his own damnation. Many poems is Les Fleurs du Mal were banned for offending public morals. Died of syphilis.

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86):

Sartre's lifelong companion, and a novelist and essayist in her own right. Le Deuxieme Sexe (1949) and Les Mandarins (1954) became handbooks for French feminists. Contributed to the existentialist review Les Temps Modernes .

André Breton (1896-1966):

Founder and theorist of Surrealism , an art collector and mentor for many painters. Breton was a poet and writer; Nadja was his semi-autobiographical novel.

Coco Chanel (1883-1971):

The first truly modern couturier introduced jersey, short skirts, simple box jackets and the "l ittle black dress " in 1920s. She started a vogue for costume jewelry and aimed to democratize fashion.

Colette (1873-1954):

The firsts woman to preside over the Académie Goncourt . Her writing was supple, sensuous and intuitive, often exploring some pervers sides og human nature.

Le Corbusier (1887-1965):

Of Swiss origin, Le Corbusier settled in Paris in 1917 as a painter, then an architect who propagated the use of reinforced concrete. His rigid style has revolutionized architecture.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918):

Debussy entered the Paris Conservatoire aged 10. His music used mood and suggestion in works such as Prélude à l'après midi d'un faune (1894) and Pelléas et Mélisande (1902).

Anatole France (1844-1924):

Parisian novelist, critic and essayist. France was elected to the Académie Française, and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1921. He confessed to finding Proust unreadable. His erudite wirk emulated 18th-century Classicism with an ironic style.

André Gide (1869-1951):

Critic, essayist, novelist and founder of the influential Nouvelle Revue Française in 1908. La Porte Etroite was his first major public success. Gide's questioning of moral dilemmas included his own homosexuality.

Victor Hugo (1802-85):

Champion of Romanticisl in poetry, drama and novels, famous for Notre-Dame de Paris . Hugo was politically active as a Royalist and the a Republican; he exiled himself in Guernsey after Napoléon III's coup d'état. After his death, his body lay in state under the Arc of Triomphe before being transported to the Panthéon.

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80):

Paris-born philosopher, novelist, dramatist and exponent of Existentialism , starting with the novel La Nausée . He wrote prolifically during the was and the 1950s, and was active in the Communist Party. Sartre refused to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964.

Emile Zola (1840-1902):

A novelist of the Realist School , conveying the tumultuous life of Paris and grim details of a growing industrial society. He defended Dreyfus with a celebrated open letter J'accuse , accusing the government of a miscarriage of justice.

[Paris apartments in Paris]