The poems of Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), collected in the collection Flowers of Evil, challenged the literature and readership of their time with uncompromising individualism, keen attention to the “litter” of urban everyday life and the chaos of spiritual impulses that violate all norms. The poet, who sought official recognition in every possible way and did not at all strive to be known as a revolutionary, by the will of history became the inventor of modernism, the author of the very concept of modernity, which formed the basis of the worldview and culture of the 20th century. Literary historian Antoine Compagnon (b. 1950) has attempted to capture the kaleidoscopic universe of Baudelaire's personality and poetic imagination in a series of "snapshots" from different perspectives. The chapters of this book, originally presented in the form of short speeches on France Inter radio, show the “poet of modern life” as a dandy, a socialist, a Catholic, a connoisseur of painting and photography, finding him in the company of friends, enemies, prominent contemporaries and lovers, and also, of course, , in front of a mirror and a sheet of paper. The publishing layout of the book is saved in PDF A4 format.