Émile Verhaeren and André Lefèvre in the 5th arrondissement, Paris

Le square André Lefèvre is just a few metres away from Dali's sundial, on the other side of the road. The sign says it is named after the 'littérateur français' 'born in 1831'. I've discovered that a writer named André Lefèvre (1834–1904 according to the BNF catalogue) wrote such works as Les Merveilles de l'architecture, Les Parcs et les jardins, La Philosophie, La Flûte de Pan, etc. This is surely the man the park is named after.* However, at the time of writing, the French Wikipédia entry calls this exact spot the 'square André Lefèbvre', which is not only a different spelling from that on the sign, but Wikipédia seems to think this square is dedicated to a similarly-named engineer who was born in 1894 and died in 1964. That's quite an error, and one that seems to have been reproduced by a number of sites, so I hope to see it corrected soon.

 

However, there is no ambiguity about the bust in the square, which is dedicated to the Belgian, French-speaking poet Émile Verhaeren who was much influenced by symbolism, wrote in free verse and was appreciated by many writers and artists. He died by accidentally being pushed under the wheels of a train by a crowd.

 

'ÉMILE

VERHAEREN'

 

'POÈTE BELGE
NÉ À ST ARMAND
LE 21 MAI 1855
MORT ACCIDENTELLEMENT
À ROUEN
LE 27 NOVEMBRE 1916

–––––––––––––––––––––

OFFERT À LA
VILLE DE PARIS
PAR LE COMITÉ
FRANCO-BELGE
ÉMILE VERHAEREN'

 

*Piet Desmet devotes a chapter to Lefevre's theories on 'naturalistic linguistics' in La Linguistique naturaliste en France (1867-1922): Nature, origine et évolution du langage (Paris: Leuven, 1996), pp. 315–350. (According to Desmet, Lefevre was indeed born in 1834 (in Provins) and died in 1904 (in Paris).)