On the occasion of the bicentennial of Charles Baudelaire's birth on April 9th, 1821, the musée d'Orsay has decided to celebrate the leading 19th century poet by hosting a series of weekly readings by creative figures from all over the world. Each creative figure designs their video.
Charles Baudelaire was a friend of many artists whose works are held at the musée d'Orsay. He has contributed to define what art, culture and poetry, have been from the 19th century to today.
This week's reading is by the author Salman Rushdie. He reads “Spleen.”

I am like the king of a rainy land,
Rich, but powerless, young and yet very old,
Who, from his tutors despising the bows,
Is bored with his dogs as with other beasts.
Nothing can cheer him up, neither game nor falcon,
Nor his people dying in front of the balcony.
Of the favorite jester the grotesque ballad
No longer distracts the forehead of this cruel patient;
His flowered bed is transformed into a tomb,
And the ladies in waiting, for whom every prince is beautiful,
No longer know how to find an immodest toilet
To draw a smile from this young skeleton.
The scientist who makes gold for him has never been able
From his being to extirpate the corrupted element,
And in these bloodbaths which from the Romans come to us,
And which the mighty remember in their old age,
He could not warm this dazed corpse
Where flows instead of blood the green water of Lethe.

À l'occasion du bicentenaire de la naissance de Charles Baudelaire le 9 avril 1821, le musée d'Orsay a décidé de rendre hommage à cette figure majeure de la poésie du XIXe siècle en concevant un programme hebdomadaire de lectures de figures créatives du monde entier, chacune concevant sa vidéo.
Charles Baudelaire était ami de nombreux artistes dont les œuvres sont conservées au musée d'Orsay. Il a contribué à définir ce que sont l'art, la civilisation et de la poésie, du XIXe siècle à nos jours.

Cette semaine, la lecture est réalisée par l’écrivain Salman Rushdie. Il lit « Spleen. »

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