''The Sleeping Muse'' ( ro, Muza adormită or ) is a bronze sculpture created by

Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...

in 1910. It was originally carved from

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

using Baroness Renée-Irana Frachon as the model. Refining the sculpture, Brâncuși cast several of the sculptures in bronze, which are now in museums around the world, including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the Musée National d'Art Moderne in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. It is a model of a head, without a body, with markings to show features such as hair, nose, lips, and closed eyes. In ''A History of Western Art'', Laurie Adams says that the sculpture has "an abstract, curvilinear quality and a smooth contour that create an impression of elegance." By casting them in metal with a fine finish, these sculptures are "self-sufficient, archetypal modern forms".

References

{{Constantin Brancusi 1910 sculptures Marble sculptures Bronze sculptures in New York City Sculptures by Constantin Brâncuși Bronze sculptures in Paris Bronze sculptures in Illinois Statues in New York City Statues in Illinois Statues in France category:Sculptures in the collection of the Musée National d'Art Moderne