Eugene+Ionesco

Eugene Ionesco was born on November 26, 1909 in Romania. Ionesco’s parents moved to France when he was an infant, but returned to Romania when he was sixteen. Soon after this move, his parents divorced. Eugene studied French literature at the University of Bucharest. He married Rodicia Burileanu, and they had one daughter together. He wrote several unusual children's stories for their daughter. During WWII, Ionesco moved his family back to France and lived in Marseilles. After the war, they relocated to Paris.

Ionesco is known as a great play writer, but he did not actually write his first play, The Bald Soprano, until 1950. The play was about a middle-class family trapped in a world defined by meaningless formalities and stale routines. This small play was well received and was just the beginning of Ionesco’s writing career. Ionesco went on to write many other plays including, The Lesson (1951), The Chairs (1952), and Rhinoceros (1959). His plays explore mortality, and blur the lines between fiction and reality. Many of his plays have a dream-like quality. He was known for transforming his characters into animals, allowing them to walk in the air or continue to grow after death. In all, Ionesco wrote 28 plays, some of which are still being performed and have been since 1955. He also wrote one novel, The Hermit (1972) which was made into a film called La Vase.

Ionesco decided at the age of forty to learn English. He found the English language and its simple words and simple sentences mysterious, tragic, and hilarious. During the last 10 years of his life he devoted himself to painting and exhibiting his works. Eugene Ionesco died on March 28, 1994, at his residence in Paris. He is buried at the Cemetery of Montparnasse.