Apollinaire is best known for his collection Alcools and his Calligrammes, in which words are arranged to create images. A close friend of Picasso and other cubists, he coined the term 'surrealism' and was a major proponent of modernism in art and literature. His lyrical and experimental verse captured the energy and fragmentation of the early 20th century. He died during the Spanish Flu pandemic, leaving a legacy that profoundly influenced surrealist and experimental poetry.