In so doing he anticipated the literary movements of the late 1940s, including the work of such authors as René Char, Henri Michaux, Saint-John Perse or Francis Ponge.

Amongst his admirers are René-Guy Cadou, Alain Bosquet, Lionel Ray, Claude Roy, Philippe Jaccottet and Jacques Réda.

Supervielle was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, to a family in charge of a bank; his father was from Béarn and his mother of Basque origin.

The publication of his poems in 1919 drew the attention of André Gide and Paul Valéry and put him in contact with the Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF).

Supervielle published an autobiographical account entitled Boire à la source in 1951, followed by his last collection of poetry, Le Corps tragique, in 1959.