Maurice Merleau-Ponty was born in Rochefort-sur-Mer on March 14,1908. On his own admission, he spent an idyllic childhood, the recovery of which, according to Jean-Paul Sartre, constituted a key motive of his philosophy. In 1913, upon the death of his father, the family moved to Paris, and Merleau-Ponty entered the lycée system. He graduated from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and in 1926 was admitted to the École Normale Supérieure. It was during his years there that he met Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Since Bergson had already retired, Merleau-Ponty studied with the German idealist Leon Brunschvicg. Sartre graduated in 1929 and Merleau-Ponty in 1930.