Alberto Savinio
Poet
A Greek-Italian writer, artist, and composer, he is best known for his dramatic poem, Les Chants de la Mi-Mort. The work established him as a founder of the Surrealist movement.
His first solo artwork exhibition occurred in Paris in 1927. In the 1920s, he also published a novel called La Casa Ispirata and staged his ballet, Perseus, at New York's Metropolitan Opera.
He wrote five operas and founded a musical movement called Sincerismo. Over the course of his life, he also wrote more than fifty books and several plays.
He was born in Athens, Greece, to Italian expatriate parents. His birth name was Andrea Francesco Alberto de Chirico.
His older brother, the renowned painter Giorgio de Chirico, founded the metaphysical art movement.