Christa Giles

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workings of the mind and psychological complexities
which accounted for the decadent concern with ˝les Paradis
Artificiels.˝ Drugs, after Baudelaire, were perceived as a
means of self observation and heightening of sensations,
and because they were identified with the dream, were also
associated with artistic creation. It remains true, however,
that in Wilde and Huysmans’ work opium in particular
was associated with the decadent atrophy of the will,
boredom, and ennui as well as an indulgence in the
artificial and novel sensations. In Certains, the passage in
which Huysmans connects Whistler with De Quincey
suggests both the freeing of the imagination as well as
paradoxically a kind of limbo:
Invinciblement, l’on songeait aux visions de
Quincey, a ces fuites de rivières, a ces rêves
fluides que détermine l’opium. Dans leur
cadre d’or blême, vermicellés de bleu
turquoise et piquetés d’argent, ces sites
d’atmosphère et d’eau s’étendaient a l’infini,
suggéraient des dodinements de pensées,
transportaient sur des véhicules magiques
dans les temps irrévolus, dans des limbes.
C’était loin de la vie moderne, loin de tout,
aux extrêmes confins de la peinture qui
semblait s’évaporer en d’invisibles fumées de
couleurs, sur ces légères toiles. 428