A une Dame Creole

Charles Baudelaire (April 9, 1821 – Aug 31, 1867) was a French poet. His most famous work, “Les Fleurs du Mal” (The Flowers of Evil), is a volume of... more

by Nicole Jean-Louis

Buy the Original Painting

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

36.000 x 28.000 x 0.750 inches

Title

A une Dame Creole

Artist

Nicole Jean-Louis

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas - Illustration

Description

Charles Baudelaire (April 9, 1821 – Aug 31, 1867) was a French poet. His most famous work, “Les Fleurs du Mal” (The Flowers of Evil), is a volume of French poetry containing 164 poems. Baudelaire’s style is of prose-poetry.

My painting is an illustration created to elucidate the sensual thought conveyed in my high school teenage mind after reading Charles Baudelaire poem, “A une Dame Creole”; translated in English, “To A Creole Lady”. This is a visual representation.

In 18th Century poetry, there were restrictions imposed. Sex, as a theme, was considered scandalous. Baudelaire refused to admit restriction in the poet’s choice of theme and his attitude made him appealing to the modern man. Baudelaire started the literary movement: Modernism. Modernism is a conscious severance from the past where fresh new ideas are welcome. In other words, Modernist doesn’t only perceive beauty in nature.

To write his poems, “Les Fleurs du Mal”, Baudelaire got aspirations from many women. I will mention only the ones who inspired him to write, “A une Dame Creole”.

While going to Law school in Paris, Baudelaire used to be in rapport with many prostitutes. He contracted syphilis. In order to end that addiction, on June 9, 1841, his family sent him to Calcutta, India. He was 20 year old. The boat, Baudelaire was traveling in, hit a violent storm and had to be situated in Mauritius.

Mauritius (In French,”L’ile Maurice”) is an island located in the south west region of the Indian Ocean; at about 1243 miles from the African coast, and 559 miles from Madagascar. Mauritius has a tropical climate. During the French occupation (1715 – 1818), slaves were imported from Africa and Madagascar. In 1835, Slavery was abolished. In Mauritius, Baudelaire stayed in Port-Louis with the Autard de Bragard family. The mistress of the house inspired him to write, “A une Dame Creole” poem. In this poem, he celebrates the “pale” and “hot” coloring of the lovely Mme Autard de Bragard. Dark skin women were usually seen as “highly sexualized”. The poem appears in a letter he wrote to the family to thank them for their hospitality. The voyage to the Indies enriches his imagination and a mixture of exotic images envelopes his work. Dark skin women were seen “exotic” to Baudelaire. His conception of exotic is based on the color of the woman’s skin and her origin.
Baudelaire arrived back in France in February 1842. In 1842, Charles Baudelaire met Jeanne Duval (b.1820 – d.1862). She is a Haitian born actress and dancer, of African and French heritage. Baudelaire met her when she left Jacmel, Haiti for France. She was fathered by a French colonist in Haiti. She became Baudelaire’s mistress and they were together for over 20 years; until she died (at age 42) after being infected of syphilis by Charles Baudelaire. Five years later, Charles Baudelaire died (at age 46), from syphilis. Baudelaire loved Jeanne Duval the most after his mother, Caroline Archimbaut Dufays. Baudelaire had never set foot in the Caribbean, but he frequently described the Caribbean as an ideal place. His inspirations for his poetry (his muse), his vision are set according to what Jeanne Duval told him.

First I will display Charles Baudelaire’s poem, then I will point out some French words that help justify my illustration, then I will translate the poem in English.

À une Dame Créole

Au pays parfumé que le soleil caresse,
J'ai connu, sous un dais d'arbres tout empourprés
Et de palmiers d'où pleut sur les yeux la paresse,
Une dame créole aux charmes ignorés.
Son teint est pâle et chaud; la brune enchanteresse
A dans le cou des airs noblement maniérés;
Grande et svelte en marchant comme une chasseresse,
Son sourire est tranquille et ses yeux assurés.
Si vous alliez, Madame, au vrai pays de gloire,
Sur les bords de la Seine ou de la verte Loire,
Belle digne d'orner les antiques manoirs,
Vous feriez, à l'abri des ombreuses retraites
Germer mille sonnets dans le coeur des poètes,
Que vos grands yeux rendraient plus soumis que vos noirs.
— Charles Baudelaire


Some French words that help justify my illustration:
Baudelaire titled his poem: “A une Dame Creole” meaning ‘To a Creole Lady”. Creole means a person of mixed French and African descent, speaking a dialect of French.

2nd line: “arbres tout empourpres”—I felt confident that Baudelaire was talking about the Flamboyant tree, aka Red flame. This is a splendid tree. It was introduced in the Caribbean in 1516. It was a native of Madagascar. This tree can reach 40-80 feet. This is the red flower tree that I have seen in Haiti. Jeanne Duval probably described that tree to Charles Baudelaire.

5th line: “pale”- “brune”-- Baudelaire talked about the lady’s complexion: “pale” meaning, “light skin”. He also described her as “brune”, means “brunette” in English. Brunette is a female having dark hair, dark eyes. She must be a Métis or mulatto with African-European ancestry.

Last line: “vos noirs”—meaning “your blacks”. Baudelaire could not possibly mean “your slaves”, because at this time, slavery was abolished in Mauritius since 1835; and Haiti was a free land by the time Jeanne Duval was born, 1820.

(10th line: “La Seine “and “La Loire”—they are 2 long rivers in France.)

My English version:
To a Creole Lady

In the scented country that the sun caresses,
I have known, under a canopy of flamboyant
And palm trees where over your eyes rains idleness,
A Creole lady, whose charms stay unapparent.

Her complexion is pale and hot; the brunette enchantress
Has on the port of her neck, some affectation of nobility;
Tall and slender walking like a huntress,
Her eyes are confident and her smile shows tranquility.

Should you go, Madam, to the true land of glory,
On the banks of the Seine or of the green Loire,
Beauty worthy to ornate ancient manors,

You would, under some shady retreated parts
Sprout thousand of sonnets in poets’ hearts,
Unlike your blacks, your sublime eyes would render submissive even more.

---Translated by Nicole Jean-Louis

References:
1. Charles Baudelaire – Biography
2. Baudelaire and the Autard de Bragard family in Mauritius.(Mauritius: Tropical Holidays 4 U - The Tourist Portal of Mauritius)
3. Jeanne Duval and Charles Baudelaire (Jeanne Duval- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
4. Charles Baudelaire A une Dame Creole.

Uploaded

January 11th, 2012