The pioneering Dadaist was the French artist Jean ARP, who was born in Strasbourg in 1886. He was a key figure in the Dada movement, which began in Zurich in 1916 and was a reaction to the horrors of World War I. ARP's work was characterized by its abstract forms and its rejection of traditional artistic conventions. He was also a poet and writer, and his works often combined visual art with poetry. He died in 1966 in Basel, Switzerland.