A letter from Baudelaire announcing his intention to commit suicide sold for 234,000 euros

A letter of youth of Charles Baudelaire announcing his intention to commit suicide sold this Sunday to 234 000 euros, three times the estimated price, at auction by the house Osenat missives of the author of Flowers of Evil.

The highlight of the sale, this letter from Baudelaire, dated June 1845, addressed to his mistress Jeanne Duval, was estimated between 60,000 and 80,000 euros. It will now be part of a private French collection, said the auction house.

"I'm killing myself because I can not live anymore"

"When Miss Jeanne Lemer gives you this letter, I will be dead (…). I kill myself because I can not live anymore, that the fatigue of falling asleep and the fatigue of waking me up are unbearable, "writes the poet. He will stab himself without serious consequences. He is 24 years old and will live another 22 years.

Other Baudelaire texts are on sale. Letters from Barbey d'Aurevilly, Delacroix, Hugo, Manet, addressed to him, are also collected in this collection. Delacroix's letter has been pre-empted by the Delacroix museum for € 7,540, Osenat said in a statement.