Charles Baudelaire begins his essay with a descriptive character formation of a self-taught artist he refers to as M.G., by drawing out the characteristics of the artist's nature and actions. These include: originality, modesty, a lack of need for approval, a desire to be anonymous, a lack of ulterior motives, and an obsession with a world of images. M.G. does not sign his pieces with his name. The author claims that the artist's nature is clearly readable in his works and even without the signature you can tell it was created by M.G. because “all his works are signed with his dazzling soul.” M.G.'s knowledge of materials and capability of art making are referred to as being a gift. This leads to Baudelaire's distinction between what constitutes artist versus man of the world, because he calls M.G. a man of the world, rather than just an artist.

He defines artist(s) as a slave, “a specialist…skilled brutes, mere manual laborers, village pub-talkers with the minds of country bumpkins,” discussing in narrow dialogs. The man of the world, on the other hand, is something higher, better, and more than the artist—“a man who understands the world and the mysterious and legitimate reasons behind all its customs.” Baudelaire calls him a “spiritual citizen of the universe” and describes his immense yearning for knowledge and understanding. The author suggests that this initial attitude of yearning within an individual is what may lead to becoming a man of genius.

At first, the reader assumes M.G. is a specific person, but Baudelaire becomes more abstract in his character formation, which makes M.G. out to be more of an overall ideal—a way of being. The author vividly describes the mindset of a convalescent to highlight an attitude of curiosity inherent in M.G. He goes on to say that the experience of curiosity, interest, and passion, at these extremes, is relatable to being a child—one distracted by the wonder of every single element as being new and exciting. Basically, Baudelaire is depicting the idea of artist as super sensory sensitive. However, M.G. does not have the mentality of a child. He is a hybrid of childlike naivety mixed with a mature sensibility, making him man of a genius.

So far, M.G. holds an elitist position as man of the world, but Baudelaire also notes the downside to this position concerning the artist's capacity of feeling. Just as M.G. can be taken to ecstasy through observation, he can also feel the worst of all pains. Baudelaire's example is a quote by M.G. himself: “‘any man who is not weighed down with a sorrow so searching as to touch all his faculties, and who is bored in the midst of the crowd, is a fool! A fool! and I despise him!’” Here, the author uses the theme of melancholia belonging to the genius; his gift is both a positive and negative bestowment received by Fate.

Baudelaire closes by maintaining the myth and the need of the artist in culture. He describes the magical creation process as an activity that produces objects inevitably carrying the essence and soul of their creator. He celebrates a mature naivety towards the present, and condemns borrowing too much from the past. Baudelaire is proposing an idea of man and a way of reacting to the world that will eventually lead to some progression—a man forever in search of modernity.