Events from the year 1909 in France.
Incumbents President: Armand Fallières President of the Council of Ministers: Georges Clemenceau (until 24 July), Aristide Briand (starting 24 July)
Events 20 February - The Futurist Manifesto, written by Italian Filippo Marinetti, is published in Le Figaro. 2 February - The Paris Film Congress opens. It is an attempt to form a cartel of leading European producers similar to that of the MPPC in the United States 18 April - Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome. 25 July - Louis Bleriot is the first man to fly across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft. 30 July – Société Française de teintures inoffersires, as predecessor of L'Oréal was founded. 22 September - Three of the Chauffeurs de la Drome are executed by guillotine in Valence, Drôme in south-west France. They were a gang responsible for a three-year campaign of theft, torture and murder in the department of Drôme.
Arts
Georges Braque Barques de pêche Le Compotier Mandora Albert Gleizes - Bords de la Marne Henri Matisse - Nu assis Francis Picabia - Caoutchouc Pablo Picasso - Femme à l'éventail Henri Rousseau Les Rives de la Bièvre près de Bicêtre La Muse inspirant le poète Paul Signac - Le Pin de Bertaud Gassin Suzanne Valadon - Adam et Ève
Film
André Calmettes - Macbeth Segundo de Chomón - Pickpock ne craint pas les entraves Georges Méliès Le Locataire diabolique Hydrothérapie fantastique Le Génie des cloches ou le Fils du sonneur Papillon fantastique
Literature
Maurice Barrès - Colette Baudoche André Gide - La porte étroite Maurice Leblanc - L'Aiguille creuse
Music
Frédéric Chopin - Les Sylphides (orch. Alexander Glazunov) Claude Debussy Le petit nègre Chansons de Charles d’Orléans Paul Dukas - Vocalise-étude Georges Enesco - Piano Quartet No. 1 Manuel de Falla - Pièces espagnoles Gabriel Fauré - Impromptu No. 5 Jules Massenet - Bacchus Maurice Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit Camille Saint-Saëns - Le matin, Op. 129
Sport 5 July - Tour de France begins. 1 August - Tour de France ends, won by François Faber of Luxembourg.
Births
January to March 3 February André Cayatte, filmmaker (died 1989) Simone Weil, philosopher and social activist (died 1943) 10 February - Henri Alekan, cinematographer (died 2001) 26 February Claude Cahen, orientalist (died 1991) Michel Tapié, artist, critic, curator and art collector (died 1987) 7 March - Léo Malet, novelist (died 1996) 14 March Pierre Cloarec, cyclist (died 1994) André Pieyre de Mandiargues, writer (died 1991) 27 March - Raymond Oliver, chef and restaurateur (died 1990) 31 March - Robert Brasillach, author, executed for collaboration (died 1945)
April to June 7 April - Robert Charroux, writer (died 1978) 17 April - Alain Poher, politician (died 1996) 22 April - André Girard, civil servant and Resistance worker (died 1993) 11 May - René Bousquet, civil servant, served as secretary general of the Vichy regime police (died 1993) 21 May - Guy de Rothschild, banker (died 2007) 15 June - Pierre La Mure, author (died 1976) 17 June - Régine Pernoud, historian and medievalist (died 1998) 19 June - Robert Défossé, soccer player (died 1973)
July to September 6 July - Jean Taris, swimmer and Olympic medallist (died 1977) 8 July - Louis Finot, international soccer player (died 1996) 13 July - Marie-Thérèse Walter, mistress of Pablo Picasso (died 1977) 15 July - Jean Hamburger, physician, surgeon and essayist (died 1992) 26 July - Bernard Cornut-Gentille, administrator and politician (died 1992) 5 August - Pierre Guillaumat, politician and Minister (died 1991) 11 August - Gaston Litaize, organist and composer (died 1991) 25 September - Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon, film director, script-writer, playwright and author (died 1985) 27 September - Pascal Themanlys, poet, Zionist and Kabbalist (died 2000) 29 September - Jules Merviel, cyclist (died 1976) September - Henri Déricourt, pilot and accused double agent (died 1962)
October to December 1 October - Thierry Maulnier, journalist, essayist, dramatist and literary critic (died 1988) 11 October - François Tanguy-Prigent, politician and resistance fighter (died 1970) 14 October - Robert Mercier, footballer (died 1958) 28 October - Claude Bourdet, writer, journalist and politician (died 1996) 5 November - Pierre Repp, humorist and actor (died 1986) 8 November - Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, French Resistance leader (born 1989) 29 November - Jean Leguay, civil servant, accomplice in the deportation of Jews from France (died 1989) 2 December - Pierre Langlais, military officer (died 1986)
Full date unknown Marcel Barral, poet (died 1997)
Deaths 18 March - Cécile Bruyère, abbess (born 1845) 28 May - Désiré-Magloire Bourneville, neurologist (born 1840)
References