A dazzling figure of French poetry, Arthur Rimbaud passed through Paris like a comet, between rebellion, wandering and precocious genius. From his boisterous beginnings to his explosive exchanges with Verlaine, the capital preserves the traces of his feverish passages, scandalous readings and literary fugues.
To follow Rimbaud to Paris is to rediscover a city where poetic modernity was forged in tumult. Or how the capital shaped and preserved the echo of one of the most stirring poets of the 19ᵉ century.
A dazzling, elusive poet, Arthur Rimbaud revolutionized French literature with a body of work condensed into just a few years. Born in Charleville in 1854, he moved to Paris where he met Paul Verlaine, with whom he had a passionate and chaotic relationship.
Rimbaud is the quintessential accursed poet, rejecting convention and burning life at both ends. After revolutionizing poetry with Une saison en enfer and Les Illuminations, he gave up writing to embark on a life of adventure, from trading in Africa to exploration, until his death at the age of 37.
Mazas prison (12ᵉ arr.). Rimbaud arrived in Paris for the first time in the summer of 1870, without a valid ticket, and was arrested at the Gare du Nord before being taken to the Mazas prison, now demolished.
14 rue Nicolet (18ᵉ arr.). He returned to Paris more permanently in mid-September 1871, greeted on the Gare de l'Est platform by Paul Verlaine and Charles Cros. For a few days, he occupied a room at Verlaine's home in Montmartre, then visited the Louvre with Verlaine the day after his return. In the early days of Paris, he frequents the photographer Étienne Carjat, who shoots portraits of poètes maudits in his studio at 10 rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (9ᵉ arr.).
Le Rat Mort (9ᵉ arr.). He frequented this now-defunct brasserie on Place Pigalle, a place of nocturnal waltz and literary intoxication where, according to several accounts, alcohol and passion converged. One night of excess, Rimbaud stabbed Verlaine in the thigh during an altercation over absinthe.
Rue Campagne-Première (14ᵉ arr.). He rents a garret - at an address now demolished when Boulevard Raspail was built in 1902 - where he and Verlaine spend tumultuous nights. This run-down dwelling echoes the verses he composed during this period, a mixture of ardor and cruelty.
Rue Férou (6ᵉ arr.). A contemporary fresco dedicates Le Bateau ivre (The Drunken Boat) on a surrounding wall. The text, calligraphed backwards (from right to left), is the one Rimbaud is said to have recited for the first time in 1871 at a meeting of the Vilains Bonshommes group, an informal literary body that brought together Verlaine, Charles Cros and other bohemian spirits, a few steps away. A commemorative plaque at the corner of rue du Vieux-Colombier and rue Bonaparte commemorates this major moment in his career.
La promenade plantée Arthur-Rimbaud (13ᵉ arr.). Along the Seine at the foot of the Bibliothèque nationale François-Mitterrand, this two-level garden celebrates the poet, as does theallée Arthur Rimbaud (13ᵉ arr.).
L'hôtel littéraire Arthur Rimbaud (10ᵉ arr.). The establishment dedicates each floor to a poem or theme linked to his life, from beginnings to exile.
Arthur Rimbaud, the literary hotel for poetry lovers, in the 10th arrondissement
Close to the Porte Saint-Denis theaters, a poetic stay awaits you in one of three Parisian hotels dedicated to literature, in the footsteps of Arthur Rimbaud, just a few minutes from the Gare de l'Est, where the writer answered Paul Verlaine's call. [Read more]
Did you know? A giant poem by Arthur Rimbaud can be found copied onto a wall in Paris.
In some Parisian neighborhoods, literature is a raison d'être. Such is the case in the 6th arrondissement, and particularly on rue Férou, where literary street-art lurks, as a poem by Arthur Rimbaud can be read in its entirety on a wall! [Read more]
Immerse yourself in the Paris of yesteryear, discovering the mythical and historic restaurants, bistros and cafés where artists, authors and intellectuals met. [Read more]
Did you know? A giant poem by Arthur Rimbaud can be found copied onto a wall in Paris.
The legendary restaurants and cafés of artistic and literary Paris, historic addresses
