The Sleeping Gypsy
1897 Museum of Modern Art
About this artwork
This oil on canvas painting depicts a dark-skinned woman in a vibrant striped robe sleeping in a desert landscape under a full moon, accompanied by a lion. It is a masterpiece of early modern art noted for its dreamlike quality and flat, stylized composition.
Did you know?
Henri Rousseau, known as 'Le Douanier' because of his day job as a toll collector, was a self-taught painter who created this work in a highly imaginative style that departed from the academic norms of his time. Despite being rejected by critics initially, it has since become one of the most iconic images of the 19th century, celebrated for its enigmatic atmosphere and deliberate, childlike simplicity.
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The Sleeping Gypsy
Henri Rousseau, 1897
