1. Henry Darger has become famous for his posthumously recovered 15,145-page manuscript for a fantasy novel titled In the Realms of the Unreal, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor illustrations for the story and two further works of literature.
When he was four years old, his mother died of puerperal fever after giving birth to a daughter, who was given up for adoption; Henry Darger never knew his sister.
Henry Darger himself felt that much of his problem was being able to see through adult lies and becoming a "smart-aleck" as a result, which often led to his being punished by teachers and ganged up on by classmates.
Henry Darger later said that, to be fair, there were "good times" at the asylum, he enjoyed some of the work, and he had friends as well as enemies.
In 1908, Henry Darger received word that his father had died in St Augustine's Home for the Aged; Henry Darger never had a chance to visit him since his departure eight years prior.
Henry Darger attempted to escape in 1908 by freight train, but was thwarted by police after reaching Chicago and forced back into the asylum.
Henry Darger escaped once more in 1909 and succeeded, now free in Chicago.
Henry Darger's dress was shabby, although he attempted to keep his clothes clean and mended, and he was largely solitary.
Schloeder left Chicago sometime in the mid-1930s, but he and Henry Darger stayed in touch through letters until Schloeder's death in 1959.
In 1930, Henry Darger settled into a second-floor room on Chicago's North Side at 851 West Webster Avenue in the Lincoln Park section of the city, near the DePaul University campus.
Henry Darger is buried at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois, in a plot called "The Old People of the Little Sisters of the Poor Plot".
Henry Darger's headstone is inscribed "Artist" and "Protector of Children".
Henry Darger illustrated his stories using a technique of traced images cut from magazines and catalogues, arranged in large panoramic landscapes and painted in watercolors, some as large as 30 feet wide and painted on both sides.
Henry Darger wrote himself into the narrative as the children's protector.
Once released from the Lincoln asylum, Henry Darger repeatedly attempted to adopt a child, but his efforts failed.
Henry Darger was last seen listening to an organ grinder with her cousins.
Henry Darger's body was found a month later in a sanitary district channel near the screen guards of the powerhouse at Lockport.
Henry Darger never found his copy of the photograph again.
Henry Darger carried out an elaborate series of novenas and other prayers for the picture to be returned.
Henry Darger had been working on some version of the novel before this time, but now it became an all-consuming creation.
Henry Darger provided two endings to the story, one in which the Vivian Girls and Christianity are triumphant and another in which they are defeated and the godless Glandelinians reign.
Henry Darger is praised for his natural gift for composition and the brilliant use of color in his watercolors.
One idiosyncratic feature of Henry Darger's artwork is that his girl subjects are shown to have penises when unclothed or partially clothed.
The narrative ends mid-scene, with Henry Darger having just been rescued from the Crazy House.
In 1968, Henry Darger became interested in tracing some of his frustrations back to his childhood and began writing The History of My Life.
The Lerners took charge of the Henry Darger estate, publicizing his work and contributing to projects such as the 2004 documentary In the Realms of the Unreal.
Henry Darger has become internationally recognized thanks to the efforts of the people who salvaged his work.
Henry Darger is today one of the most famous figures in the history of outsider art.
Henry Darger left no will and no immediate surviving relatives when he died in 1973.
Henry Darger located Darger's legal heirs by himself and notified them of their legal claim.
Henry Darger's art has been featured in many notable museum exhibitions, including "The Unreality of Being" exhibit curated by Stephen Prokopoff.
Henry Darger's work has been shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Setagaya Art Museum, and the Collection de l'art brut, La Maison Rouge, Museum Kunstpalast, Musee d'Art Moderne de Lille-Metropole, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.