Rouault, Georges, The Flowers of Evil, 1938

We don’t know when or how Georges Rouault’s project to illustrate Les Fleurs du Mal came about. The painter was undoubtedly seeking a spiritual climate in harmony with his inner vision of reality. Indeed, it is not a question of illustration’s subordination to poetry, but rather of an intellectual conjunction between the two artists. Rouault recognized Baudelaire’s familiar transmutation of reality into vision, of the ephemeral into the lasting, of the particular into the typical.

The twelve color etchings are the culmination of some fifteen years’ work by Rouault. These illustrations reflect the evolution of his creative spirit and his search for new materials. In the end, he didn’t follow the poems to the letter; rather, they were the starting point for an original adventure of his own devising. Thick black strokes and vivid colors are reminiscent of mosaic or enamel, with each zone set to render its maximum intensity.

Information from the catalog raisonné

Images: Plate VIII (Paysage à la Tour, 1938) and Plate I (Nu de Profil,1936) from the suite.