Henri Michaux was born on May 24, 1899 in Namur (Belgium), scion of a bourgeois family of lawyers, architects and ardeneses Walloons. Between 1906 and 1910 attended a boarding school in the Flemish countryside, which seems to have left a good memory. Then, in Brussels, studying Latin and passionately interested in entomology. Around fifteen think joining the Benedictine order, her father forbids it. In 1919, the medical school begins but does not end his freshman year. Then he embarked as a sailor on two long trips. In 1922, he published his first texts. The following year, makes a trip to Ecuador to be the reason for his eponymous book, published in 1929 The "travel diary", a very personal subject to reprocessing, will become one of his favorite genres. Then come the trip to East and the classic A barbarian in Asia (1933); travel imaginary countries collected Elsewhere (1948); and finally, travel-induced experience with hallucinogenic drugs described, thoughtful, remembered in Miserable Miracle (1956), Turbulent Infinity (1957), Knowledge of the abyss (1961), the great trials of the Spirit (1966) moments (1973) and By surprise (1983). Around the 30s, attracted by the surrealist painting and admiring the works of Klee and De Chirico, who would try to not duplicate reality but to invent other places, "ways of dreaming" Michaux would say, start drawing and paint regularly. His art will have its own route and at times absorb all available time, but always in dialogue with his writings, which often illustrated. This painting, writing, traveling, reached the end of his days in Paris, in 1984 it is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. His other books are: The restless night (1935), Testing, exorcisms (1945), Life in the folds (1949), Holiday (1950), Facing the bolts (1954), Emergency resurgences (1972), When fall roof (1973), Facing what is hidden (1976) a pathway for insubordination (1980) Appealing to face (1984), Head (1986).