Flowers of Evil

1971

Special Collections PQ2191 F6 A2 1971

New York: Printed for the Members of the Limited Editions Club

While writing Les Fleurs du Mal, Charles Baudelaire kept on his desk two inspirational art works: a set of engravings by Alfred Rethel depicting a more modern, ironic, and hostile Danse Macabre; and a skeleton statuette sculpted by Ernest Christophe. With left hand positioned jauntily on her hip, the female skeleton wears a gown, is garlanded with flowers, and, right arm slightly bent, cradles a mask of flesh, looking as though she were about to attend a masquerade. In his poem ‘Danse Macabre,’ Baudelaire’s skeletal coquette is perfumed, elegant, and alluring as she leads humanity in a grotesque Danse Macabre.