Charles Baudelaire 1861 - 1865

Etienne Carjat captured Charles Baudelaire in a photograph, immortalizing the poet with a somber gaze. Here we observe the man who plumbed the depths of modern angst. Baudelaire's meticulously tied bow and solemn expression speak to the dandyism he espoused: an elevation of the self through artifice. This very posture echoes across centuries, reminiscent of aristocratic portraits meant to convey power and control. Yet, in Baudelaire's case, it seems laden with a certain unease, a hint of the turmoil beneath the surface. Consider the bow itself – a knot. Throughout history, knots have symbolized union, commitment, and sometimes, constraint. One sees this symbol recurring in funerary art, binding the dead to memory. In Carjat's portrait, the knot at Baudelaire's throat appears almost as a tightening noose. It embodies the psychological tension inherent in Baudelaire's work: the push and pull between beauty and decay, the alluring yet suffocating embrace of modernity. It serves as a reminder of how symbols never truly die, but resurface, transformed, in the dreams and nightmares of subsequent ages.