Flâneurial?

Edgar Degas: Place de la Concorde (1875)

Hello, my fellow flaneurs and flâneuses,

Since this is my first-ever blog post, I would love to give a little history lesson on the concept of the flaneur and the name of my blog, FlaneurialSJX. "Flaneur," derived from the French term "flânerie," meaning "idling" or "strolling," is a term coined by the nineteenth-century poet Charles Baudelaire to describe an individual who saunters around observing modern society, representing the ability to detach from society and appreciate one's surroundings. Many original flâneurs were artists and writers. The ideology was particularly popular with individuals in the Impressionist circle, such as Renoir and Degas. Further in the twentieth century, the ideology was brought about by new media such as the Situationists (urban artists who critiqued capitalist culture). The picture above shows a piece by French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas, which encapsulates the ethos of being a flaneur. The flaneur in question is the man at the right of the image, Degas' friend, artist, archeologist, and patron of the arts, Ludovic-Napoleon Lepic. However, the real flaneur, the one observing and recording, unnoticed, is perhaps the artist himself. I want this blog to be the product of my own flaneurial experiences and to encourage everyone to notice more about everyday living as not only a source of escapism but also a source of happiness, and for me to be the flaneur on the right. (P.S.: SJX is just the initials of my Chinese name if anyone was asking, but probably not.)

XOXO till next time, my fellow flâneurs~