Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) is one of the most famous French poets. This statue was created in 1933 by Pierre Fix-Masseau (1869-1937) and installed in the Luxembourg Gardens in 1941. In 1966, the statue was moved to a more frequented area of the gardens, better suited to the 'talent of the sculptor and genius of the poet', near the entrance on Rue August Compte, in front of the high school Lycée Montaigne.
Baudelaire is just one of many artists to be represented in the Luxembourg Gardens. Others to look for: Chopin, Montesquieu, Beethoven, Watteau, Verlaine, Ingres, Millet, Delacroix, and Stendhal.
There are also memorials throughout the gardens, including one in honor of the students who died fighting in the Résistance ('Etudiants morts dans la Résistance', by Gaston Watkin, can be found just beyond the Médicis Fountain. read more