On February 20, 1909, a ferocious manifesto declaring the formation of the Futurist movement appeared on the front page of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro, sending shockwaves across Europe. F.T. Marinetti, a young Italian poet, suggested that writers and artists reject classic art and celebrate the dynamic technology of modern city life. Marinetti, together with a group of like-minded painters, pioneered an art that would eulogize speed and industry in a reaction to the static of the classics, and even against contemporary movements such as Cubism.