Jean Cocteau

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau, born on July 5, 1889, in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris, emerged as a seminal figure in the Parisian Belle Époque. At nineteen, he published his debut collection of poems, La Lampe d’Aladin, marking his entry into the literary and artistic circles of the era. Collaborating with Russian ballet director Sergei Diaghilev in 1917 on the groundbreaking ballet Parade, Cocteau’s fusion of music, poetry, and visual art earned acclaim and sparked the avant-garde movement.