A GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE
1880-1918

The bronze statue was made by Pablo Picasso as a tribute to the poet Guillaume Apollinaire who was his friend.
The original work was made in 1941 based on the image of the photographer Dora Maar (Henriette Theodora Markovitch) who served as a model for many of Picasso’s works and was also his lover.
When the Paris municipality decided to commemorate the poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1951, Picasso proposed this piece. The statue was placed in 1959 in the garden next to the Saint Germain de Pere church.
In 1999, the statue disappeared from the garden, but was later found and returned to its place.

Guillaume Apollinaire, the poet and writer born in Italy, is considered to have coined the term "surrealism", and is considered one of the most important poets of the early twentieth century.

The statue was photographed on the same day Click for a larger image