Architectural representation is perennial in the work of Theophile Gautier. To determine the implications of architectural experience and understand the text in the dynamics of its development, an eclectic approach has prevailed. Far from being a simple reproduction, architectural description neglects mimetic representation and submits itself to the prism of subjectivity. Being an art critic with bundles impregnated paintings and works of art, an esthetic and eclectic dilettante, Gautier sees the architectural object through a set of aesthetic and artistic considerations. He seeks to reconstruct thetriumvirate of the painter, sculptor and architect and defend the primacy of architecture. In his travels, he rejects modern architectures and criticizes their uniformity. His preference is for the singular charm of Andalusian buildings or the exotic feature of oriental palaces. Appreciating the curved and spiral line instead of the straight one, Gautier defends the genius of invention and seeks not the utility but the beauty of pure form. Advocating an aesthetic whim and arabesque, he grappleswith the scourge of Europeanization and does not hesitate of beautify the real, to « artialization ». This aesthetic sensitivity is even more noticeable in his poetry. Obelisks, Castle and Cathedral are carved to meet the ideal of the aesthetic. In doing so, architectural structuring and textual construction are carried out simultaneously making the poem an architecture that takes shape in by words. The architecture is also involved in its organizing the realm of the narration from a story to another, the architectural building changes its semiotic status (connotation, opponent, adjuvant, shifter action ,...). But, often, the architectural representation lays the foundation for constructing the novel and determines the evolutionary process. The reconstruction of Greco-Roman architecture or Egyptian grandeur through the Pompeii archaeological restoration and rebuilding of Thebes illustrates this construction fever that drives Gautier. The reconstruction project is duplicated with a process of language creation, re-construction, is being re-invented, destroys the traditional boundaries betweenhistory, archeology and phantasmagoria. The fantastic architecture, refastened to subjective perception questions any scelerosing representation of space and "gives to see" a shifting and multiple space-time. Delirium, intoxication, hashish, mirror, wall tapestry, etchings are the ingredients of fantastic alchemy. But the architectural hallucination does not go away in space adventure, it takes us into the labyrinthine journey of the psyche and exorcises personal fantasies. Conjuring pianesiens architectural nightmares, Gautier the architect puts his dream of architecture into practice. Combining exotic riches of the East and the cozy comfort of the West, he can not separate happiness from architecture and built his Eldorado in accordance with his aesthetic. In want of fulfilling his dream on the architectural mode of reality, Gautier turns to Art and coils himself microcosm. Carrying along a set of models (the ancient, Renaissance, Romanticism, German...), he builds his monument and combines the "arche" with the "architecture", the idea with the form. Beyond its referential function, socio-historical, metaphorical, symbolic or aesthetic, architectural representation is a fundamental act that helps emerge the unity and harmony of the gautieresque work.
Architectural representation in the work of Theophile Gautier