LIRE LE THÉÂTRE AU MIROIR DE LA PEINTURE : LA CRITIQUE D’ART DE BAUDELAIRE
READ THE THEATER MIRROR OF PAINT: THE ART OF CRITICAL BAUDELAIRE

Summary/Abstract: This article aims at showing the links between theatre and painting in Baudelaire’s esthetical thought. According to him, the interpretation of these two arts can only be made by means of perpetual exchange of values and analogies. The first section elaborates a reflection on the pictorial “theatricality”, as one can discover it in the author’s Salons and critical studies. The second section discusses the axiological criteria implied in the baudelairian judgment: the critic often describes the beautiful paintings as good plays, the ugly paintings as bad plays, and the painter in front of his canvas as an actor on scene. Finally, the third section takes into account the two elements which permit the symbolical passage between painting and theatre: the décor and the portrait (or character). The text finishes with some paragraphs on photography, a dangerous industry which threatens both theatre and painting.

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