Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a renowned French poet, essayist, translator, and art critic. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), published in 1857, is considered one of the most important literary collections in 19th-century Europe. Baudelaire's mastery of rhyme and rhythm, combined with an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, set his poetry apart and had a profound influence on the Symbolist and Modernist movements.

Baudelaire coined the term "modernity" (modernité) to describe the fleeting experience of life in rapidly changing urban environments, and emphasized the responsibility of art to capture this experience. His prose-poetry style, evident in works like Petits poèmes en prose (Little Prose Poems), was innovative and influential.

Living a bohemian life filled with financial disaster and legal dramas, Baudelaire's reputation during and after his lifetime was that of a provocative and daring writer. Despite controversies, his work has stood the test of time, making him a central figure in the literary history of France.