ABSTRACT
Modernity is variously a term of the same order as beauty, a subdivision of beauty, and a term of which beauty is a subdivision. If both beauty and modernity are 'bizarre', however, neither one can be of any help in defining the other. Thus when Baudelaire proposes Constantin Guys as 'peintre de la vie moderne', he is not displacing or reformulating a concept of beauty, so much as replacing it with that of modernity. Modernity too is an aesthetic reaction, but one quite different from beauty. Critics have often expressed embarrassment at Baudelaire's choice of Constantin Guys as 'peintre de la vie moderne', and have obligingly proposed other, better-qualified artists to take Guys's place. The possibility becomes clearer if we return to the first paragraphs of the Le Peintre de la vie moderne where Baudelaire illustrates the problem that arises whenever aesthetics collides with the canon.
