Artwork App

16.1 × 27.7 × 19.3 cm (6 5/16 × 10 7/8 × 7 9/16 in.)

Sleeping Muse

Brancusi sculpted his first “sleeping head” in 1907, and within three years had developed the tapered, egg-shaped form seen here, which he initially executed in marble. Placed on its side in an unconventional manner, yet in a way that feels natural to the subject of sleep, the sculpture imparts an essential poetry between the slumbering figure and the unencumbered way Brancusi chose to present its form. On one hand, the absence of a base suggests that the sculpture may have toppled over; on the other hand, it shows the muse in a posture of both physical and metaphorical rest, as if cheek to pillow.

Credit Line

Arthur Jerome Eddy Memorial Collection

Colors

Exhibition History

London, Allied Artists Association, Royal Albert Hall, Sixth London Salon, July 1913, cat. 1167. New York, Gallery of the Photo-Secession, Constantine [sic] Brancusi, March 12–April 1, 1914, n.p., (cat. 4), as Sleeping Muse. Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection, September 19–October 22, 1922, n.p. (cat. 8), as Sleeping Muse. Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture, December 22, 1931–January 17, 1932, p. 28 (cat. 21), 30, as Sleeping Muse, 1910. Chicago, Renaissance Society, A Selection of Works by Twentieth-Century Artists, June 20–August 20, 1934, n.p. (cat. 4), as Sleeping Muse, 1909. New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cubism and Abstract Art, March 2–April 19, 1936, p. 205 (cat. 16), as Sleeping Muse, 1910. Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum, Pictures for Peace: A Retrospective Exhibition Organized from the Armory Show of 1913, March 18–April 16, 1944, n.p. (cat. 3), as Sleeping Muse. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (organizer), Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition, p. 44 (ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 23–November 15, 1969; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, November 21, 1969–February 15, 1970; Art Institute of Chicago, March 14–April 26, 1970. Bucharest, Museum of Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957, June 1970, pp. 34, 94 (ill.), 95 (cat. 20), as Muza Adormita, 1910; traveled to The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, September 19–November 29, 1970, pp. 50 (cat. 11), 81 (ill.), as Slapende muze, 1910. Paris, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Constantin Brancusi, April 11–August 21, 1995, p. 105 (cat. 17, ill), as Muse endormie, 1910; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 8–December 31, 1995. Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 6, 2013–Feb. 16, 2014, no cat. no. Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Brancusi, Rosso, Man Ray - Framing Sculpture, Feb. 8, 2014– May 25, 2014.