Sartre and de Beauvoir had an open romantic relationship

One of Sartre and de Beauvoir's lovers accused them of exploitation

The philosophical duo's open relationship sometimes included shared partners, including de Beauvoir's students. One of those students, Bianca Lamblin, wrote a book, "A Disgraceful Affair," about the experience and characterized it as sexual exploitation.

Camus and Sartre admired each other's work before becoming friends

The two writers, who would later be considered two of the biggest names associated with existentialism, wrote positive reviews of each others' early work, with Camus praising Sartre's novel "Nausea" and story collection "The Wall" and, later, Sartre favorably compared Camus' "The Stranger" to Franz Kafka and Ernest Hemingway. Still, their reviews included some critiques, hinting at the larger disagreements that would come much later.

Simone de Beauvoir's 'The Second Sex' merged existentialism with feminism

De Beauvoir’s 1949 philosophical treatise criticized patriarchy and its negative impact on women. She argued that gender differences were mainly due to socialization rather than innate qualities, writing that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” In turn, de Beauvoir believed women should refuse predetermined gender roles and instead define themselves, echoing a key tenet of existentialism.

Many writers considered 'existentialist' didn't identify with the term

“Existentialism” was first introduced in 1943 by philosopher Gabriel Marcel. Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir readily adopted the term, but others, such as Albert Camus and Martin Heidegger, rejected it. Earlier philosophers, like Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, were long dead by the time the word was in vogue.

Sartre spent his time in the French Army working on a novel

The writer's physical limitations (including partial blindness and balance issues) prohibited him from serving on the front lines. Instead, he worked as a military meteorologist. The job was not very demanding, so he spent most of his time writing. He told Simone de Beauvoir it was "extremely peaceful work; indeed I cannot think of any branch of the services that has a quieter, more poetic job."

Sartre and de Beauvoir's literary journal was named after a Charlie Chaplin movie

The couple founded the magazine Les Temps Modernes in 1945 and it quickly became essential reading for French intellectuals. Its name came from "Modern Times," Charlie Chaplin's 1936 movie that satirized the industrial revolution's dehumanizing effects.

Sartre believed those who deny their own freedom are operating in 'bad faith'

In "Existentialism is a Humanism," Sartre argues that humans are "condemned to be free"—they are not confined to a divine fate, which means they must take the responsibility of creating their own destinies. Those who reject this freedom, by his estimation, are living in "bad faith."

Sartre was an elaborate prankster as a student

After Charles Lindbergh completed his first solo transatlantic voyage in 1927, the French philosopher—then a student at Paris' École normale supérieure—called various newspapers to tell them the American pilot would be granted an honorary degree. Over 500 people showed up to find a Lindbergh lookalike Sartre had hired. "The public fell for it, and an old man even kissed his hand," Sartre later wrote.

Sartre's 1980 funeral attracted a massive crowd

The legendary existentialist died April 15, 1980. A week later, mourners packed the streets of Paris to pay tribute. Estimates suggest that between 20,000 and 50,000 people were in attendance. In the Associated Press footage below, you can watch them following the hearse from the hospital where the thinker died to his resting place in Montparnasse Cemetery.

Simone de Beauvoir was a serious hiker

The existentialist icon began hiking as a young school teacher in Marseilles. Eventually, she would plan out long trips that covered up to 18 miles and took her around 12 hours to complete. She would later write that the hikes saved her “from boredom, regret, and several sorts of depression.”

Novelist Richard Wright joined the existentialists in Paris

The author of “Black Boy” and “Native Son” left the United States in 1946 to escape his home country’s racial inequality. In Paris, he explored existentialist ideas and spent time with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. “The Outsider,” a novel he wrote while living in France, embraced many of the philosophy’s central themes.

Jean-Paul Sartre was amazed by American jazz

The French philosopher wrote about a 1947 trip to a New York jazz club as a transcendent experience, describing the magic of the relationship between performer and audience: "You shout, they shriek, they whistle, they are possessed, you are possessed."

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Salvador Dalí and Coco Chanel bonded over art and fashion

In the late 1930s, Chanel hosted the eccentric artist to like and work in her home. Despite their differing styles, the two icons collaborated, and Chanel even inspired Dalí to mimic her perfume in his artwork.

James Beard and Julia Child were close friends and collaborators

The duo met when she was promoting her seminal book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 1961. They quickly bonded, even referring to themselves as “Jiji,” a combination of Julia and Jim. Child, though, was initially prejudiced against Beard for being openly gay, which was rarer at that time.

Jean-Paul Sartre famously wrote that 'Hell is—other people'

The line appears toward the end of the play "No Exit." One character, realizing that he's confined to live out the rest of his days with the play's other two characters, exclaims, "There's no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is—other people!"

Jacques Louis David was a prime foil for the romantics

French painter Jacques Louis David was a defining figure of the neoclassical movement, using historical scenes and a polished sheen to present work that was as close to the real world as humanly possible. That made him an obvious foil for the romantics, who embraced raw feeling over accuracy.

Freud and Jung were once friends. What drove them to break up?

Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung were fast friends, immediately hitting it off the first time they met in 1907. This four-minute video dives into the intellectual divide that drove them apart.

A profile of Dickinson's ambiguous but close relationship with Susan Gilbert

Gilbert met Dickinson in 1850, and the two women quickly became very close, with Dickinson often pining for Gilbert in letters. In this essay, critic Maria Popova calls the relationship "beautiful, heartbreaking, unclassifiable," and details how it came to inspire Dickinson's writing, even after Gilbert married Dickinson's brother.

'The Republic of Letters' was an analog internet for the Enlightenment.

The virtual intellectual society exchanged tens of thousands of letters and spanned several continents. Some of its most avid correspondents were Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, and Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

Langston Hughes scholars have debated the writer’s sexuality

After his death, Hughes scholars discovered unpublished poems that some believe are addressed to a male lover. Hughes’ primary biographer has argued that he was likely asexual. Hughes never married or publicly commented on his sexual orientation.

Many historians believe Eleanor Roosevelt had a romantic relationship with Lorena Hickok, a female journalist

Roosevelt and AP reporter Lorena Hickok exchanged over 3,000 deeply affectionate letters, many written twice daily. Hickok lived in a room near Eleanor's in the White House for several years. Biographers who have examined their correspondence conclude it was a true-love relationship.

There's no definitive proof that Boulanger, the supposed inventor of the restaurant, ever lived

Legend has it that Boulanger's Paris soup shop was the first modern restaurant, but historian Rebecca Spang found no definitive proof that he ever lived. She did, however, find multiple documents referencing a different 18th-century Parisian, Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau, as the "creator" of restaurants. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Listen to some of romance's leading writers discuss the genre

In this interview from 2022, romance novelists Helen Hoang (author of the "Kiss Quotient" series) and Emily Henry ("Beach Read," "People We Meet on Vacation," and more) discuss both loving and subverting the conventions of the genre.

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

Caesar and Cleopatra's complicated affair

The Egyptian queen Cleopatra, a known charmer in history, had a public affair with Roman leader Julius Caesar. Read this article for details and a timeline of their doomed romance—from their first meeting to her later affair with Marc Antony.

Rob Reiner fell in love while working on the romantic comedy 'When Harry Met Sally'

The director was divorced when he began shooting the movie, which was loosely based on his own experiences dating. He was introduced to his eventual wife, Michele Singer, by a cameraman on the production, who told Reiner that he and Singer would wind up married.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.