Théophile Gautier

Pierre Jules Theophile Gautier (August 31, 1811 - December 23,1872), principally known as a French poet, however he was also a playwright, novelist, journalist and literary critic.

Born in Tarbes in the Hautes-Pyrénées departement, a Basque-speaking region, which was his principal language until he went to Paris at the age of 3 or 4.

He had designs on becoming a painter, however his inclinations turned him in the direction of poetry, and these ambitions were furthered on meeting Victor Hugo. He also received assistance from Honore de Balzac, who gave him work at the Chronique de Paris.

Gautier, along with the poets Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire and a doctor, Jacques-Joseph Moreau, founded a club dedicated to experimentation with drugs, principally hashish, called the Club des Hashischins. In an article published in Revue des Deux Mondes in 1846, Gautier detailed their experiments.

He visited Spain in 1840 in the wake of the civil war then being waged.

He made a living from journalism although he found the work 'humiliating'; he sought and found escape in travel and poetry. He is remembered for the quote: "Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality."

Theophile Gautier died on December 23, 1872 and was interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris, France.