Daumier and Baudelaire’s silence

Abstract

The friendship maintained between the writer and critic Charles Baudelaire and the painter, sculptor and caricaturist Honoré Daumier is just a little known and especially its importance is underestimated. In this article this friendship will be considered to evidence Daumiers great ability, at that time relegated by many people and deeply respected by a few others. In this manner, from some fundamental points inherent in Baudelaires critical method, we will try to understand Baudelaires judgement considered in relation to Daumiers pictorial and sculptural work. If Baudelaire pronounced his opinion just related to Daumiers graphic work, the silence of the critic concerning the artists pictorial and sculptural work can not be judged as forgetfulness or indifference; on the contrary, we must extract some meaning from this silence.