''The Dream'' (french: Le Rêve; occasionally also known as ''Le Songe'' or ''Rêve exotique'') is a large

oil-on-canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

painting created by

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

from 18 March to 1 May 1910, a few months before his death on 2 September 1910. Rousseau's earlier works had received a negative reception, but poet and critic

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

remarked on its debut: "The picture radiates beauty, that is indisputable. I believe nobody will laugh this year." ''The Dream'' is the largest of the jungle paintings, measuring 6' 8½" × 9' 9½" (204.5 × 298.5 cm). It features an almost

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

portrait of Yadwigha (Jadwiga), Rousseau's Polish mistress from his youth, lying naked on a divan to the left of the painting, gazing over a landscape of lush jungle foliage, including

lotus flower ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as sacred lotus, Laxmi lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more often ref ...

s, and animals including birds, monkeys, an elephant, a lion and lioness, and a snake. The stylised forms of the jungle plants are based on Rousseau's observations at the

Paris Museum of Natural History The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loca ...

and its Jardin des Plantes. The nude's left arm reaches towards the lions and a black

snake charmer Snake charming is the practice of appearing to hypnotize a snake (often a cobra) by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerou ...

who faces the viewer playing his flute, barely visible in the gloom of the jungle under the dim light of the full moon. A pink-bellied snake slithers through the undergrowth, its sinuous form reflecting the curves of the woman's hips and leg. Suspecting that some viewers did not understand the painting, Rousseau wrote a poem to accompany it, ''Inscription pour La Rêve'': One possible interpretation of the painting, offered by Rousseau in a letter to art critic

André Dupont André Dupont (born July 27, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers and Quebec Nordiques. He won bac ...

, is that it depicts a woman reclining on a couch in Paris, dreaming she is listening to a flute player in the jungle. The subject of a reclining nude draws from a classical tradition, from

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

’s 1538 painting ''

Venus of Urbino The ''Venus of Urbino'' (also known as ''Reclining Venus'') is an oil painting by the Italian painter Titian, which seems to have been begun in 1532 or 1534, and was perhaps completed in 1534, but not sold until 1538. It depicts a nude young wom ...

'' to

Manet A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...

's 1863 painting ''

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

''. Rousseau may have taken some inspiration from

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

's novel '' Le Rêve'', which deals with the love between a painter and an embroideress. While he was painting ''The Dream'', Rousseau was romantically involved with a shop assistant, Leonie. French art dealer

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with providing exposure and emotio ...

bought the painting from Rousseau in February 1910. It was sold through Knoedler Galleries in New York to clothing manufacturer and art collector

Sidney Janis Sidney Janis (July 8, 1896 – November 23, 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York City, New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited work by the Abs ...

in January 1934. Janis sold the painting to

Nelson A. Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

in 1954, who donated it to the

Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

to celebrate the Museum's 25th anniversary. It remains on display at MoMA.

External links

Music video of ''The Dream''

References

Museum of Modern Art

Provenance
Museum of Modern Art
Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris
National Gallery of Art
''Selected Writings: Poetry of grammar and grammar of poetry''
Roman Jakobson, pp. 331–8
''The Lotus Quest''
By Mark Griffiths, p. 143
''Personal Places: Perspectives on Informal Art Environments''
edited by Daniel Franklin Ward, p. 6 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dream, The Paintings by Henri Rousseau Paintings in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) 1910 paintings Nude art Birds in art Lions in art Elephants in art Musical instruments in art Snakes in art Monkeys in art Moon in art

Further reading

External links

References