Modern Theories of Art 1 by Barasch Moshe

Author:Barasch, Moshe [Barasch, Moshe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780814711767
Publisher: New York UP
Published: 1990-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

4. BAUDELAIRE

Among the most profound and, with regard to nineteenth-century theory of art, probably the most influential articulation of the synaesthetic approach is that given by the great French poet and critic of many arts, Charles Baudelaire, who in several respects marks a watershed of aesthetic thought in the modern age. The scope and range of Baudelaire’s theoretical reflections on the arts are very wide. The interrelation between the arts, though not devoid of significance, is not the center of his thought, which is dominated by other themes, such as the artist’s imagination. We shall therefore not present Baudelaire’s aesthetic thought here; we shall do that in the last chapter of this book.91 At this stage, I shall only summarily outline his reflections on the topic here discussed, the relationship between painting and sculpture and the other arts.

Baudelaire’s celebrated collection of poems, The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal), contains a poem called “Correspondances” that was to exert a great influence on modern poetry. A poem, of course, is usually not a theoretical text, but in this case Baudelaire was making an important statement about the links between the senses, and, by implication, between the arts. This rhymed statement, as Wellek claims, served as a starting point for a renewed interest in synaesthesia.92 The opening stanzas of the poem should be quoted in our discussion.

Nature is a temple where living pillars

At times allow confused words to come forth;

There man passes through forests of symbols

Which observe him with familiar eyes.

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