Read Joy Roy Choudhury’s BLOG on the Indian Art Scene

A Tribute to Bengali Culture

www.charlesbaudelaire.co.uk - An ArtVantage initiative

Biographical Facts

• Born in Paris, France on April 9, 1821
• Father was a civil servant and amateur artist
• Baudelaire’s father died when he was only a young child.
• In 1828, his mother married a lieutenant colonel Jacques Aupick
• Baudelaire was educated in Lyon and Pairs (Lycée Louis-le-Grand) graduating in 1839 – his intention to write.
• Aupick during this time was appointed as ambassador to several countries.
• In 1842, in Paris, he received a small inheritance, which he spent within a few years.
• His spendthrift ways brought him in to conflict with his family who sought who sought legal recourse to curb his ways.
• During this time he met Jeanne Duval, who was to become his longest romantic association.
• He started to gain exposure as an Art Critic in 1845 and 1846.
• In 1848 he was part of the revolutionary movement in France that year and maintained a long standing interest in the republican cause.
• His first major published work of poems finally came before the public in 1857, he was a slow and careful writer, writing and revising constantly.
• The work, Les Fleurs du mal, scandalised French society and he was prosecuted for offending public morals. ‘The Flowers of Evil’ was a work in progress his whole life.
• Over the next few years he published regularly but slowly, including a major undertaking to translate Edgar Allen Poe in to French, bringing Poe to the French public for the first real time.
• His later years were beset with first financial and then health problems
• Buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris he died on 31^st August, 1867.
• Most of his works were published to critical acclaim after his death

Email us today with your thoughts.
We welcome ideas, comments and contributions