| The Sleepers | |
|---|---|
| French: Le Sommeil | |
 | |
| Artist | Gustave Courbet |
| Year | 1866 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 135 cm× 200 cm(53 in× 79 in) |
| Location | Petit Palais, Paris |
Le Sommeil (translated in English variously as The Sleepers and Sleep) is an erotic [1] oil painting on canvas by French artist Gustave Courbet [2] created in 1866. [3] The painting, which depicts a lesbian couple, is also known as the Two Friends (Les Deux Amies) and Indolence and Lust (Paresse et Luxure).
Le Sommeil was originally commissioned by the Turkish diplomat and art collector of the late Ottoman era, Halil Şerif Paşa, who had lived in Paris since 1860. [4] [5] The painting was not permitted to be shown publicly until 1988, like a number of Courbet's other works such as L'Origine du monde . When Le Sommeil was exhibited by a picture dealer in 1872, it became the subject of a police report. [6] One of the models for the painting was Joanna Hiffernan, who was the mistress of fellow painter James Abbott Whistler at the time. Whistler's relationship with Hiffernan ended soon afterwards, and his opinion of Courbet soured. [1]
The Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures describes Le Sommeil as a "famous" painting. The painting created an impact in 19th-century art, because after the public display of Le Sommeil, a number of contemporary artists were influenced by the theme of lesbian couples. Repetition of this theme helped to lower the taboos associated with lesbian relationships. [3]
In 1955, Bernard Buffet painted his version of Le Sommeil as a tribute to Courbet. [7]
Today Le Sommeil is in the collection of the Petit Palais, a Parisian museum. [4]
The painting shows two naked women lying asleep on a bed entwined in an erotic embrace. [2]
The setting is a bedroom with various textiles and ornamental furnishing. In the background there is a dark blue velvet curtain and in the right corner a table with a decorative flower vase. In the foreground is a small wooden table holding three items – a colored flacon (a small vessel), a transparent crystal vase, and a cup. Except for these few furnishings, there is nothing in the painting to overshadow the main image – the women. [1]
One of the sleeping women is redhead, the other is brunette. For color contrast, Courbet worked curves between the women. A broken pearl necklace and a hairpin scattered in the bed reference the nature of their previous activity. [1]
The painting was inspired by Charles Baudelaire's poem "Delphine et Hippolyte", from his collection Les Fleurs du mal . [2] [8] [9] Le Sommeil has been interpreted as a realist painting, detailing the bodies without glossing over their imperfections. [1]
In classical antiquity, the cornucopia, also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts.
The Salon des Refusés, French for "exhibition of rejects", is generally known as an exhibition of works rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863.
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the Romanticism of the previous generation of visual artists. His independence set an example that was important to later artists, such as the Impressionists and the Cubists. Courbet occupies an important place in 19th-century French painting as an innovator and as an artist willing to make bold social statements through his work.
L'Origine du monde is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French painter Gustave Courbet in 1866. It is a close-up view of the vulva and abdomen of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread.
Lesbian erotica deals with depictions in the visual arts of lesbianism, which is the expression of female-on-female sexuality. Lesbianism has been a theme in erotic art since at least the time of ancient Rome, and many regard depictions of lesbianism to be erotic.
Bernard Buffet was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. An extremely prolific artist, he produced a varied and extensive body of work. His style was exclusively figurative and is often classified as Expressionist or "miserabilist".
Joanna Hiffernan or Joanna Heffernan was an Irish artists' model and muse who was romantically linked with American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler and French painter Gustave Courbet. In addition to being an artists' model, Hiffernan herself also drew and painted, although it is not believed she ever exhibited her work.
Alfred Philippe Roll was a French painter.
Symphony in White, No. 1, also known as The White Girl, is a painting by James McNeill Whistler. The work shows a woman in full figure standing on a wolf skin in front of a beige curtain with a lily in her hand. The colour scheme of the painting is almost entirely white. The model is Joanna Hiffernan, the artist's mistress. Though the painting was originally called The White Girl, Whistler later started calling it Symphony in White, No. 1. By referring to his work in such abstract terms, he intended to emphasize his "art for art's sake" philosophy.
La Femme au perroquet is an oil painting on canvas by French artist Gustave Courbet. It was the first nude by the artist to be accepted by the Paris Salon in 1866 after a previous entry in 1864 was rejected as indecent. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city.
Stéphane Laurent is a French historian born in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, France, in 1966. He is professor of art history at the Université Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne since 1999, where he directs the specialty in Art and Industry. He also taught at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, at the University of Berkeley and in universities of the Middle East.
Realism was an artistic movement that emerged in France in the 1840s, around the 1848 Revolution. Realists rejected Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the early 19th century. Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter and the exaggerated emotionalism and drama of the Romantic movement. Instead, it sought to portray real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy. It did not avoid unpleasant or sordid aspects of life. The movement aimed to focus on unidealized subjects and events that were previously rejected in art work. Realist works depicted people of all social classes in situations that arise in ordinary life, and often reflected the changes brought by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions. Realism was primarily concerned with how things appeared to the eye, rather than containing ideal representations of the world. The popularity of such "realistic" works grew with the introduction of photography—a new visual source that created a desire for people to produce representations which look objectively real.
The Bathers is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Gustave Courbet, first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1853, where it caused a major scandal. It was unanimously attacked by art critics for the large nude woman at its centre and the sketchy landscape background, both against official artistic canons. It was bought for 3000 francs by Courbet's future friend Alfred Bruyas, an art collector – this acquisition allowed the artist to become financially and artistically independent. It is signed and dated in the bottom right hand corner on a small rock. It has been in the musée Fabre in Montpellier since 1868.
The Happy Lovers is a title given to a c. 1844 painting by the French artist Gustave Courbet, now in the musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. One of its earlier titles when exhibited in 1855 at the Pavillon Courbet in Paris was The Waltz. It was sold in the Courbet sale of 1881 and bought by M. Hard and resold to M. Brame, before entering the collection of the musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon in 1892. The engraver Félix Bracquemond, a friend of the painter, reproduced the work as an etching.
After Dinner at Ornans is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French Realist artist Gustave Courbet, painted in winter 1848–1849 in Ornans. It is now in the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. Its dimensions are 195 by 257 cm.
Self-Portrait with a Black Dog, Portrait of the Artist or Courbet with a Black Dog is an 1842 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Gustave Courbet, retouched by the artist in 1844. It is now in the Petit Palais in Paris.
Young Ladies Beside the Seine (Summer) (French - Les Demoiselles des bords de la Seine (été)) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French Realist Gustave Courbet, created between late 1856 and early 1857. It is held in the Petit Palais, in Paris.
Jo, the Beautiful Irishwoman is the title of a series of four oil on canvas bust-length portraits by Gustave Courbet. They all show the same redheaded Irish model Joanna Hiffernan looking in a mirror – she also modelled for Whistler. The works have minor differences in details and dimensions but their exact chronology is unknown. They are now in the Nationalmuseum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and a private collection.
Proudhon and His Children is an oil-on-canvas group portrait by the French painter Gustave Courbet, created in 1865, now held in the Petit Palais in Paris. The main figure is a posthumously produced image of French philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who appears with his two children reading and playing.
Sea and Rain is a painting by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. The work is a seascape depicting a lone figure standing at the edge of the misty ocean surf during an overcast day. Whistler uses soft brushstrokes and thin layers of paint to create a dreamy atmosphere. The limited palette makes use of only four pigments: cobalt blue, iron-oxide yellow, vermilion, and bone black. Ten years later, Whistler would return to this minimalist style with his series of nocturnes.