April 27, 1842: a day in the life of Jeanne Duval and Charles Baudelaire.

In their Paris apartment, Charles gets to writing poems about Jeanne, his mixed-race partner and muse, while Jeanne memorizes in the hopes of performing on the cabaret stage. But, as the day goes on, the weight of Charles’ words and needs becomes increasingly difficult for Jeanne to bear.

When Charles returns with news of the abolition of slavery and twists this historical moment to demand yet more from Jeanne, she snaps, finding strength and inner freedom in her anger. Her unwillingness to stay erased resonates through the ages, shining through even her erasure from Courbet’s iconic painting, “L'Atelier du Peintre.”

L'Atelier du Peintre G. Courbet (1855)

Close-up of Jeanne's silhouette behind Baudelaire. She now re-appears in the painting, 169 years after she was erased from it.

'Baudelaire's Mistress'
E. Manet (1862)

Jeanne Duval was a mixed-race actress living in France in the 19th century. Thought to be born in Haiti around 1821, she met Charles Baudelaire, renowned French poet, in 1842 Paris and the rest is history.

She is woven through Baudelaire’s life, his body of work, and is at the core of his poetic imagery. Their relationship was tumultuous and passionate. Despite their love being in defiance of the times, their connection lasted through both their lives.

We catch glimpses of Jeanne through Baudelaire’s verses – her hair, her skin, her “deep eyes so fervid and so tender,”[1]… Thus Jeanne’s formidable shape takes form in the shadow of her lover’s quill.

Jeanne was portrayed on canvas as well! Eduard Manet painted her in Woman with a Fan, also known as Baudelaire’s Mistress. Jeanne Duval is also in Courbet’s Atelier du Peintre near where Baudelaire is was depicted – but Courbet erased her. Fifty or so years later as the paint aged, Jeanne’s silhouette seeped back into the Atelier du Peintre in an phenomenon called a pentimento (“repentance” in Italian).

Unfortunately, it’s only through Baudelaire and accounts given by those around him that we find most information about Jeanne Duval. Even seemingly simple details such as when and where she was born or died are unconfirmed. And in some cases, there was a willful erasure of her impact on his life. For example, when Charles Baudelaire died his mother burned all the letters Jeanne had written him. But what is clear is that Jeanne, apart from being “the only woman [Baudelaire] ever loved,”[2] was a passionate, willful, powerful modern woman.

Through extensive research and generous imagining, we’ve tried to peek beyond the veil of the male gaze and go beyond hearsay to imagine Jeanne and give back some of the spotlight that is her due.

[1] Un Fantôme (a Phantom) by Charles Baudelaire
[2] Letter to M Ancelle - June 30 1845 by Charles Baudelaire