Although his formal schooling was ragged, he educated himself through his wide reading and extensive travel. In the early 1920s, Cocteau's lover, novelist Raymond Radiguet, died of typhoid fever; the despondent Cocteau, reportedly to escape the pain of this loss, soon after began using opium.

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In 1930, the poet broached filmmaking, which critics often cite as the medium best suited for his artistic expression. For instance, in Le sang d'un poète (1930), a stylized, short feature about the arduousness of poetic creation, characters come to life out of Cocteau's own characteristic drawings--bold, simple strokes, accentuated eyes, minimalist outlines and profiles, and erotic, surrealistic portraits--that dominate the sets.

In his later films, Cocteau includes portions of his poetry written in his distinctive handwriting, samples of his drawings and paintings, narration in his own voice, and even himself in pivotal roles.

Frequently marked by whimsical special effects and exotic landscapes, Cocteau's films--at times adaptations of his own literary works, such as L'aigle à deux têtes (1947) and Orphée (1950)--contain themes and symbols common to the entirety of the artist's oeuvre, such as narcissism, the Orpheus myth, poetic creation, mirrors and other passages to secret worlds, fairy tales, flowers, and beautiful people in iconographic settings.

In 1937, Cocteau met Jean Marais, the most famous of his lovers, and helped make his talented, handsome, and athletic protégé into one of France's most beloved cinema stars. Among the notable films that Cocteau made with Marais are such classics as La belle et la bête (1945) and Orphée.

Cocteau's cinema demonstrates the artist's mastery of spectacular imagery. His cinepoems do not rely on a large studio system or fixed, narrative structures, but on his independent vision and experimentation.

Homoeroticism pervades Cocteau's films, especially through the featuring of attractive men and the suggestive depictions of their relationships. For instance, at the beginning of Orphée, Cocteau frames the Orphée and Cégeste characters (played by Marais and Edouard Dermit, Cocteau's last protégé and official heir) under a threshold as the two exchange a lingering gaze before crossing paths. Then, as the film progresses, Orphée becomes obsessed with listening to Cégeste's voice over a mysterious radio.

With Marais, Cocteau contributed to the rebirth of the French cinema industry during and after World War II. At the same time, the artist endured criticism, usually unfair and in nature, for not taking a more active stance in the French resistance. Although Cocteau encouraged artists to speak out against unjust political domination, he himself was disadvantaged by the open secrets of his opium use and homosexuality, which made him particularly vulnerable to attack by the right-wing Vichy government.

During the Nazi Occupation, Cocteau's plays were interrupted and/or banned and Cocteau himself experienced physical violence and homophobic insults. Despite such difficulties, Cocteau wrote, made films, traveled and attracted famous friends, patrons, and protégés during this period and throughout the rest of his life.

Cocteau received numerous awards and honors including election to the prestigious Académie Française. The artist died, one hour after learning of singer Édith Piaf's death, while recovering from a heart attack. Cocteau continues to this day as one of France's most famous, and most adored, cultural icons.

Since the 1960s, European film has included significant gay-themed films, many of them directed by openly gay and lesbian directors.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual film directors have been a vital creative presence in cinema since the medium's inception over one hundred years ago.

Set and costume design for stage and film are fields that have attracted a large number of talented gay men and lesbians.

It is not surprising, since the Bible insists that David be looked at and admired, that he should emerge in Western art as the incarnation of male physical attractiveness, especially as rendered by Michelangelo.

Although most artists since the Hellenistic age ignore the homosexual aspect of Orpheus, depicting him instead as the classical pattern of the poet-musician, notable exceptions are Colard Mansion and Albrecht Dürer.

An artistic movement that grew out of Dadaism and flourished in Europe shortly after World War I, Surrealism embraced the idea that art was an expression of the subconscious.

One of America's first openly gay filmmakers, and certainly the first whose work addressed homosexuality in an undisguised, self-implicating manner, Kenneth Anger occupies an important place in the history of experimental filmmaking.

The Ballets Russes represents not only a crucial turning point in dance history, but as one of the earliest gay-identified multinational enterprises, it is a milestone in gay history as well.

"Official State Sculptor" of Nazi-era Germany, Arno Breker created muscular nude scenes that verge on the homoerotic.

An outspoken homosexual, Jean Cocteau was a prolific poet, novelist, critic, essayist, artist, and filmmaker.

For Russian nobleman Sergei Diaghilev, who revolutionized music, the visual arts, theater, and dance, homosexuality may have been integral to his creativity.

English dancer, choreographer, producer, and teacher of drama Rupert Doone had a varied and distinguished artistic career.

Although academic scholars continue to insist on El Greco's heterosexuality, evidence exists that the great Renaissance artist had a male life partner; and many artists and writers have noted the homoeroticism of his work, especially the intense sensual energy of his male nudes.

Jean Marais became one of the most celebrated stars of French movies, theater, and television partly because of the early sponsorship of writer and film director Jean Cocteau.

One of the first openly gay composers, Francis Poulenc became one of the most thoughtful composers of serious music in the twentieth century.