Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) was an American poet and a leading figure of the Beat Generation, best known for Howl (1956) and Kaddish.

In 1957, he moved to Paris, where he stayed for about a year. Together with his lifelong partner, poet Peter Orlovsky, as well as his close friend and collaborator, poet Gregory Corso, he moved into a lodging house above a bar at 9 rue Gît-le-Cœur on the Left Bank, which Corso named the Beat Hotel. It became a haven for young expatriate painters, writers, and musicians.

This placed him within the broader artistic and literary environment through which he met Joan Mitchell, and they became friends.