Les aventuriers de l’Art moderne — Épisode 4 : Les enchanteurs de Montparnasse 1920 – 1930

Adapted from Dan Franck’s Le temps des bohèmes, this six-part series immerses viewers in the artistic and literary life of Paris from the early 20^th century to the end of World War Two. Using the codes of fiction and through archival documents and original animated sequences, the series looks at the lives of those who left their mark on this incredible period in modern art.

The war is over. The celebrations begin. Montparnasse pulsates to the rhythms of jazz and animated cafés. Paris is a monumental party. In response to the absurdity of war, the Dadaist and Surrealist revolutions are launched. Leading them are the ​“three musketeers”: André Breton, Louis Aragon and Philippe Soupault, backed by Man Ray, Robert Desnos, Tristan Tzara and many others. In 1919, the first literary work of the Surrealist movement appears: Les champs magnétiques. Kiki, the model beloved of painters known as the Queen of Montparnasse, has a tumultuous affair with Man Ray before he leaves her for Lee Miller. Aragon meets Elsa Triolet, Picasso divides his time between two women and Salvador Dali makes his grand appearance among the Surrealists.