In the Place Laurent-Prache, near the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, stands a monument to Poetry, a tribute to the Polish poet Guillaume Apollinaire, created by Pablo Picasso. The story behind the monument’s unveiling lies in one of the greatest setbacks suffered by the Spaniard, regarded as one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

The origins of the monument. The commission to create a monument to Apollinaire at Père-Lachaise Cemetery

Apollinaire died on 9 November 1918. A group of his friends and admirers commemorated the successive anniversaries of his death by gathering at the poet’s grave at around 11.30 am. From 1920 onwards, these occasions were accompanied by discussions about erecting a monument on the poet’s grave at Père-Lachaise Cemetery. A special committee of Apollinaire’s friends was formed, comprising 28 members – including Apollinaire’s widow, writers and several Cubist painters – which officially announced plans to erect a monument on the poet’s grave at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. The project was to be funded by a public fundraising campaign and an auction of modern artworks, organised thanks to donations from artists associated with Apollinaire, including Polish artists such as Alicja Halicka, Mojżesz Kisling and Louis Marcoussis (Ludwik Markus). Pablo Picasso was chosen to create the monument. As Michael FitzGerald notes, by agreeing to accept the commission, Picasso accepted the condition that he should create a design which would express the collective memory of Apollinaire.

Picasso’s failure

It soon became apparent that, just a few years after Apollinaire’s death, there were several competing visions of his legacy within the Parisian artistic community. Whilst some emphasised above all Apollinaire’s achievements in literature, citing, for example, his poetry collection *Alcools*, others highlighted his role in art history as a promoter of Cubism or the coiner of the term ‘surrealism’.

As a result of public pressure to secure funding for the monument, in 1927 Picasso presented his first avant-garde designs for the monument to the committee. However, the sketches of female figures for *Metamorphosis*, rendered in the style of Surrealism, did not meet with the approval of the decision-makers. Not even unfavourable comments, such as ‘bizarre, monstrous’, persuaded the artist to abandon his choice of surrealist style. Between 1928 and 1932, Picasso developed several designs for abstract compositions made of metal rods (now housed, amongst other places, at the Musée Picasso in Paris), referencing Apollinaire’s idea of a ‘monument out of nothing’ from *The Murdered Poet*, with the intention of placing one of them on Apollinaire’s gravestone. However, none of these designs was realised at the intended location as they failed to meet the expectations of the committee, which sought to erect a classical-style bust of the poet there. Protracted negotiations with Picasso led to other solutions being considered in the 1930s. Ultimately, in 1935, a monument in the form of a menhir, designed by the Russian poet and painter Serge Férat, was erected on the grave.

The Monument to Poetry in Laurent Prache Square

More than two decades after these events, following reflection on the failed project, in 1959 Picasso donated a bronze bust of a woman to the City of Paris as a tribute to Guillaume Apollinaire, entitled ‘Poetry’. The sculpture, for which the painter and Picasso’s partner at the time, Dora Maar, modelled, was placed on a tall stone plinth bearing the inscription ‘To Guillaume Apollinaire 1880–1918’ (To Guillaume Apollinaire 1880–1918). The sculpture was one of four bronze casts produced by the Valsuani foundry in 1950, based on a plaster composition by Picasso from 1941.

Interestingly, in 1999, the figure was stolen from the square. Weighing over 80 kg, the sculpture was detached from its plinth during the night of 29–30 March that year. It was soon found in a wood in Val-d’Oise, from where it was transported to Osny Town Hall; there, staff members – unaware of the sculpture’s authorship and history – decided to place it inside the town hall building. In 2001, one of the visitors recognised the bronze as the missing Picasso sculpture. Following an investigation, the work was quietly reinstalled in the square on 18 December 2001.