Antonin Artaud was a member of the surrealist and avant-garde movement in Paris and contributed to it as a writer, playwright and actor. He developed a Theater of Cruelty which is outlined in his manifesto, The Theater and its Double. A life spent in and out of sanatoriums resulted in an addiction to opiates, but Artaud was still able to achieve cult status through his work. 

“I would like to write a Book which would drive men mad, which would be like an open door leading them where they would never have consented to go, in short, a door that opens onto reality.”

— Selected Writings