Henri Michaux was born in Namur, Belgium, in 1899. He spent his childhood and youth in Brussels. He began studying medicine at the University of Brussels, but in 1919 he abandoned his studies to enlist as a stoker on a French merchant ship, traveling to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. In 1923, he left Brussels and settled in Paris, where he began his literary career and enthusiastically discovered Surrealism, especially the work of Paul Klee, Max Ernst, and Giorgio de Chirico. One of his first books, Who Was I (1927), brought him early recognition.

Between 1927 and 1935, he undertook numerous journeys around the world. In 1927, he traveled through Latin America, particularly Ecuador, and recorded his impressions of the trip in the book Ecuador (1929). Another trip, this time to the Far East, between 1931 and 1932, provided him with the material for the book A Barbarian in Asia (1933). In 1935, he embarked on a new journey that took him to Buenos Aires and Montevideo. In 1936, he published his first illustrated book: Entre centre et abscence . A year later, he exhibited his paintings in Paris for the first time.

In the early 1950s, Michaux set aside literature to concentrate on painting. Later, he became addicted to mescaline, an experience that would powerfully influence his subsequent work. In 1965, the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris held a retrospective of his work. During the 1970s, he held several exhibitions in Europe and the United States. Among his literary works are books of imaginary journeys ( Elsewhere ); accounts of his experiences with mescaline (Knowledge in the Abyss) ; and collections of aphorisms and reflections ( Passages ). He died in 1984.