Relative Color: Baudelaire, Chevreul, and the Reconsideration of Critical Methodology

This article addresses the connection between Charles Baudelaire's evocation of color in the Salon de 1846 and the chemist Michel-Eugène Chevreul's theory of color modification set forth in De la loi du contraste simultané (1839). Chevreul's work is read as the theoretical context for the scientific dimension of Baudelaire's conception of color, an aspect of his color theory that is central to his thinking about the nature and structure of harmony and analogy. But the parallel between Chevreul and Baudelaire extends beyond their representations of color. They are further connected by the way in which they use color as an impetus to rethink the critical perspective of the scientist or art critic. (JP)