L'espalier

aged 11 (1907 – 1908)

Begins studying art in Brussels

At the age of eleven Masson enters the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, studying under the guidance of Constant Montald.

1924

Joins Breton's Surrealist group

Together with Leiris and Artaud, Masson joins the Surrealists led by André Breton and becomes one of the most enthusiastic practitioners of automatic drawing, making a number of automatic works in pen and ink. Other accounts say he entered the Surrealist circle as early as 1923; later he takes part in the First Surrealist Exhibition at the Galerie Pierre.

1929

Breaks with Breton and leaves the Surrealists

By the end of the 1920s Masson finds Breton's insistence on the Surrealists' allegiance to the French Communist Party stifling, leaves the Surrealist movement and turns to a more structured figurative style, often with violent or erotic themes; he joins the “dissident Surrealists” gathered around his close friends Michel Leiris and Georges Bataille.

c. 1940

Escapes the Nazis with Varian Fry's help

The Nazis condemned Masson's work as degenerate; with the assistance of Varian Fry in Marseille he escapes on a ship to the island of Martinique and from there to the United States. On arrival in New York customs officials find a cache of his erotic drawings in his luggage.

1940–1945

Years in the United States: New Preston, Connecticut

Masson lives in New Preston, Connecticut; in exile he influences the development of the New York School and Abstract Expressionism, most notably Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky.

28 oktober 1987

Died