Sleeping Muse (1910) by Constantin Brancusi

Sleeping Muse - Constantin Brancusi - 1910

Artwork Information

TitleSleeping Muse
ArtistConstantin Brancusi
Date1910
MediumBronze
Dimensions16.1 x 27.7 x 19.3 cm

About Sleeping Muse

Artist Constantin Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse sculpture is a bronze masterpiece that was first created in 1910. Originally a marble creation, it depicts Baroness RenĂ©e-Irana Frachon as the model and measures 17.1 cm x 24.1 cm x 15.2 cm in size. The sculpture features a strikingly refined head that presents an unblemished shape, projecting only the conceptual idea of the original.

Sleeping Muse served as an early example of Brancusi’s development of portrait busts, creating depictions with only the disembodied heads representing their sitters; he continued with this approach for approximately two decades after its creation. Through his work on Sleeping Muse and other sculptures from this era, he established a standard for subsequent modern sculptors seeking to achieve “truth to materials” in their artwork.

Brancusi’s Sleeping Head cycle became one of his most celebrated thematic creations based on Sleeping Muse, eventually becoming globally recognized through several reproductions and casts available worldwide today: one copy belongs to MoMA (New York) collection, which asserts “the reductive quality exemplified by this work would become central innovations in the language of sculpture during the course of the next century.” Despite being modeled over a hundred years ago now, Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse remains one of the most visually alluring examples of modernist art ever presented to art enthusiasts worldwide.

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