“With her hand on her hip, adorned with pearls, armored with diamonds, Liane de Pougy moved among the tables of Maxim’s with the indifference of the stars. Men would rise, salute her. She would continue on her way,” wrote Jean Cocteau about the woman who transformed from a mother to a renowned “grande horizontale”: Paul Helleu, Antonio de la Gandera, and Nadar immortalized her mysterious charm and slender silhouette. Associated with Jean Lorrain, advised by Sarah Bernhardt at a time when she imagined herself as an actress (“she acts better lying down than standing,” the critics would assure…), Liane became the subject of articles in Paris-Parisien and Gil Blas that established her as one of the most visible courtesans in Paris. Composer Reynaldo Hahn saw her as a “supernatural beauty,” journalist Reutlinger as “the very essence of feminine charm.” Liane de Pougy was associated with Max Jacob, Father Mugnier, and Jean Cocteau, of whom she comically said, “Cocteau is a dazzling, ardent, ironic, bouncing, elegant, and abundant conversationalist…”