Baudelaire Painter Of Modern Life In The 19th Century France

Charles Baudelaire writes not only poetry but also art comments, particularly in regards to the visual arts. In nineteenth century France a turn of relationship occurred between literature and the visual arts. Baudelaire’s comments on the visual arts respond to the classical esthetics "Ut Pictura Poesis" and Laocoon. Moreover in the second half nineteenth century, the urbanisation of Paris and contributed to its rapid change that urged Baudelaire to explore a new method to represent modern life and more importantly to transform the trivial materialism in modern life into art’s canon, as portrayed in his famous work:The painter in the modern life. This dissertation discusses how Baudelaire as a poet makes use of the power of language to accomplish a modern artist’s mission:extract the beauty from trivial life and transform instances into eternity.The dissertation is comprised of three chapters. The first chapter analyses how Baudelaire uses the elements of traditional allegory painting in an innovative way. The second chapter explores how Baudelaire seizes the momentary and occasional aspects of modern life and transforms them into art, the eternal part of life. Compared with other modern painters, Baudelaire’s poetry enhances the tension between the momentary and eternal part. The final chapter covers how imagination can help language to discover the invisible part behind the paintings. With the help of imagination, poetry can convey a sense of infinite to the readers. It indicates that both poets and painters need to strike a balance between ego, infinite and finite with their own artistic disciplines.