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25. Sleeping Man
25. Sleeping Man by Louise Bourgeois, 1994
Medium: Drypoint on Paper
Voyeurism is a recurring theme in Louise Bourgeois' works, and it's apparent in Sleeping Man, a drypoint pen on paper work depicting a man snoozing in an armchair while being observed by a figure in a window.
24. Sleeping Figure
24. Sleeping Figure by Louise Bourgeois, 1950
Medium: Painted Balsa Wood
Another work by Louise Bourgeois portrays a wooden figure that Bourgeois herself described as "a war figure that cannot face the world and is defensive." This work was part of a collection known as The Personages, which included wood sculptures made by the artist in the mid-to-late 1940s.
23. Ib and Her Husband
23. Ib and Her Husband by Lucien Freud, 1992
Medium: Oil on Canvas
While many of his paintings are viewed as dysfunctional or grim, Lucien Freud's depiction of his daughter, Isobel, asleep in her husband's arms, evokes a sense of intimacy and serenity.
22. Anderson Hays Cooper
22. Anderson Hays Cooper by Diane Arbus, 1968
Medium: Gelatin Silver Print
In 1968, to refute rumors that she only photographed "freaks" and dark characters, Diane Arbus photographed Gloria Vanderbilt's sleeping baby, Anderson Cooper (yes, that Anderson Cooper!) for Harper's Bazaar. The image later opened Arbus' retrospective at MOMA in 1972.
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21. Portrait of Marguerite Sleeping
21. Portrait of Marguerite Sleeping by Henri Matisse, 1920
Medium: Oil on Canvas
One of Matisse's favorite models was his own daughter, Marguerite. Portrait of Marguerite Sleeping is a serene portrait of her in slumber, likely as a young adult.
20. The Night
20. The Night by Ferdinand Hodler, 1890
Medium: Oil on Canvas
In Hodler's The Night, the painter portrays himself as being abruptly awakened by the figure of death while entwined men and women sleep around him.
19. Sleeping Nymph
19. Sleeping Nymph by Antonio Canova, 1820-1824
Medium: Marble
Sleeping Nymph by Antonio Canova was part of a series of commissioned marble sculptures. It sat in his studio unfinished until Canova's death.
18. Sleeping Boy
18. Sleeping Boy by Philippe-Laurent Roland, circa 1774
Medium: Terracotta Painted White
Influenced by the sleeping erotes of classical antiquity, Roland's Sleeping Boy depicts the bust of a young boy asleep. This work was most likely used as a model for later bronze sculptures.
17. Sleeping Ariadne
17. Sleeping Ariadne by Unknown, 2nd century BCE
Medium: Marble
This famous sculpture of the mythical figure Ariadne is housed in the Vatican Museums in Rome. It depicts the daughter of the King Minos of Crete asleep after being abandoned by her lover Theseus.
16. Noon: Rest from Work (After Millet)
16. Noon: Rest from Work (After Millet) by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Influenced by Jean-François Millet's engravings on peasants working, Van Gogh painted several portraits of workers, including this one of them dozing on their break in the fields.
15. Sleeping Woman
15. Sleeping Woman by Man Ray, 1929
Medium: Gelatin Silver Print (solarized)
Man Ray solarized his photograph of a sleeping woman, manipulating it with heat and slightly melting the medium, giving it an even more subdued and surreal feel.
14. Le Lit
14. Le Lit by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892
Medium: Oil on Cardboard
Toulouse-Lautrec's intimate painting Le Lit depicts two figures, reportedly both women, asleep under heavy covers.
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13. Woman with Yellow Hair (Femme aux cheveux jaunes)
13. Woman with Yellow Hair (Femme aux cheveux jaunes) by Pablo Picasso, 1931
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Picasso widely explored the realm of sleep in his paintings over the years. This work depicts his young mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter in repose.
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12. The Sleeping Gypsy
12. The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau, 1897
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Rousseau himself describes The Sleeping Gypsy as "A wandering Negress, a mandolin player, lies with her jar beside her (a vase with drinking water), overcome by fatigue in a deep sleep. A lion chances to pass by, picks up her scent yet does not devour her. There is a moonlight effect, very poetic."
11. Mask II
11. Mask II by Ron Mueck, 2001-2002
Medium: Mixed Mediums
Ron Mueck's hyperrealist depiction of what is believed to be his own face, asleep in giant form, is both moving and disorienting, suggesting a relationship between what is intimate and monumental.
10. Still Life with Sleeping Woman
10. Still Life with Sleeping Woman by Henri Matisse, 1940
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Not dissimilar from his portrait of The Dreamer, Matisse also did a portrait of a woman sleeping in conjunction with a still life study. This painting was famously a part of a recovered collection of paintings stolen by a Nazi war criminal during World War II.
9. Sleeping Cupid
9. Sleeping Cupid by Caravaggio, 1608
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Caravaggio's Sleeping Cupid, painted as a commission in 1608, depicts the god of love as a cherub, deep in slumber with his bow and arrow cast aside, reminding all about the perils of love.
8. The Virgin
8. The Virgin by Gustav Klimt, 1913
Medium:Oil on Canvas
Klimt was famous for his portrayals of women, from the mythical to the biblical. His painting The Virgin is no different, depicting unnamed women, or what might be one woman with different sides, in peaceful poses.
7. Le Rêve
7. Le Rêve by Pablo Picasso, 1932
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Picasso's famously expensive painting "Le Rêve" portrays another portrait, albeit a subtly erotic one, of his lover Marie-Thérèse amidst a dream.
6. The Dream
6. The Dream by Henri Matisse, 1940
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Similar in pose and curvature to Picasso's portrait of Marie-Thérèse, Matisse's The Dream depicts a sleeping model in a peasant blouse.
5. Sleeping Muse
5. Sleeping Muse by Constantin Brâncuși, 1910
Medium: Bronze
Constantin Brâncuși's sculpture Sleeping Muse features a bronze, oval-shaped head at rest, suggesting the weight of a deep and languid sleep. The sleeping head became a recurring theme for Brâncuși for several decades.
4. Sleeping Girl
4. Sleeping Girl by Roy Lichtenstein, 1964
Medium: Oil and Magna on Canvas
An icon of American Pop art, and his comic book inspired paintings, Lichtenstein's Sleeping Girl features a modern take on the classic artist's celebration of the female form at rest.
3. Sleep
3. Sleep by Salvador Dalí, 1937
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dalí's portray of man asleep highlights the juxtaposed heaviness of the sleeping body with the separation of the dreaming mind. Dalí himself said of the painting: "I have often imagined the monster of sleep as a heavy, giant head with a tapering body held up by the crutches of reality. When the crutches break we have the sensation of falling."
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2. Sleep
2. Sleep by Andy Warhol, 1963
Medium: Film
Andy Warhol's Sleep depicts poet John Giorno asleep for over five hours. The silent film, deemed by the artist as an "anti-film," was the first video Warhol made in his move away from painting into multimedia.
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1 .Bronze Statue of Eros Sleeping
1. Bronze Statue of Eros Sleeping by Unknown, 3rd-2nd century B.C
Medium: Bronze
This bronze statue of Eros is one of the first of its kind surviving from the 3rd-2nd century B.C., showing the God of Love as a chubby infant dozing on his side. The "Sleeping Eros" influenced many similar adaptations, evidenced by the number of replicas found from that era.