The first complete Dutch translation of Les Fleurs du Mal was done by the Flemish poet and translator Bert Decorte (1915-2009). Published in 1946, the translation De bloemen van den booze goes back to the second half of the 1930’s when the young poet began his own writing. The translation’s prime feature is the remarkable work on formal aspects (metre and rhyme) and on rhythm. The focus on meter induces different translation strategies depending on the degree of metrical constraint. Some transpositions are clearly an appropriation of meaning. This appropriation highlights another aspect of the creative process in this translation. It depends entirely on the resources of Dutch language and literature in Belgium where the French-speaking elite dominated all aspects of social life and considered the country as monolingual French until the late nineteenth century. Flemish literature had therefore to establish itself against its influential neighbour, a process which began with a Flemish contribution to French literature (Verhaeren, Maeterlinck, etc.), then by converting a French inspiration to a true Flemish expression (Van Langendonck, K. van de Woestijne), with Baudelaire playing a pivotal role. The literary relations with the Netherlands have followed a similar evolution. The translation of Les Fleurs du Mal, as well as Decortes’s own poetry, have been received in Flanders as a modern continuation of this emancipatory effort. The translation owes its features to this intimacy which engenders in turn a truly Flemish Baudelaire.