Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet, 1880-1918

Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the early 20th century, as well as one of the most impassioned defenders of Cubism and a forefather of Surrealism. He is credited for adopting the term Cubism (1911) to describe the new art movement, and for coining the terms "Orphism" (1912) and "Surrealism" (1917). He wrote one of the earliest works described as surrealist, the play The Breasts of Tiresias (1917, used as the basis for a 1947 opera). The prix Guillaume Apollinaire, a French poetry prize first awarded in 1941, was named in honour of him.