Sleeping Muse

Modern Art

1910

Constantin Brancusi
Romanian, active France, 1876–1957

Brancusi sculpted his first “sleeping head” in 1907, and within three years had developed the tapered, egg-shaped form seen here, which he initially executed in marble. Placed on its side in an unconventional manner, yet in a way that feels natural to the subject of sleep, the sculpture imparts an essential poetry between the slumbering figure and the unencumbered way Brancusi chose to present its form. On one hand, the absence of a base suggests that the sculpture may have toppled over; on the other hand, it shows the muse in a posture of both physical and metaphorical rest, as if cheek to pillow.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Constantin Brancusi
Title: Sleeping Muse
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1910
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 16.1 × 27.7 × 19.3 cm (6 5/16 × 10 7/8 × 7 9/16 in.)
Credit Line: Arthur Jerome Eddy Memorial Collection
Reference Number: 1931.523
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Fry, Roger, The Nation, London, (Aug. 2, 1913).
Constantine [sic] Brancusi (New York: Gallery of the Photo-Secession, 1914), n.p. (cat. 4,) as Sleeping Muse.
Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Cubists and Post Impressionism (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1914), 182–83, as Sleeping Muse.
Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1922), n.p. (cat. 8), as Sleeping Muse.
Rich, Daniel Catton, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1931), 28 (cat. 21), 30, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., Cubism and Abstract Art exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1936), 205 (cat. 16), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Siple, Walter H., Pictures for Peace: A Retrospective Exhibition Organized from the Armory Show of 1913 exh. cat. (Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum, 1944), n.p. (cat. 3), as Sleeping Muse.
St. Louis Art Museum Bulletin, no. 4 (1961).
Jianou, Ionel, Brancusi (New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 1963), 93 (no. VII), 143 (ill., fig. 25), as Sleeping Muse (VII), 1910.
de Micheli, Mario, Constantin Brancusi (Milan, 1966), pl. 1 (ill.).
Spear, Athena Tacha, “A Contribution to Brancusi Chronology,” The Art Bulletin, 48, 1 (March 1966): 47, 53 (cat. 34c), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Spear, Athena Tacha, “Letters to the Editor,” The Art Bulletin, 48, nos. 3/4 (September–December, 1966): 465 (cat. 34c), as Sleeping Muse.
Fabbri, Dino, Con I maestri del colore: La più grande collana d’arte del mondo (Milan: Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1967), n.p. (ill., pl. I), as La musa addormentata, 1910.
Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1968), pp. 35 (ill.), 218 (cat. 57a), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Geist, Sidney, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition exh. cat. (New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1969), pp. 44 (ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Brezianu, Barbu, and Elena Cumpanasu, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957 exh. cat. (Bucharest: Museum of Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1970), pp. 34, 94 (ill.), 95 (cat. 20), as Muza Adormita, 1910.
Gemeentemuseum, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957 exh. cat. (The Hague: Gemeentemuseum, 1970), 50 (cat. 11), 81 (ill.), as Slapende muze, 1910.
Tucker, William, “Four Sculptors (part I): Brancusi,” Studio International, 179, 921 (April 1970): 158–159 (ill., fig. 6), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Spear, Athena T., “Exhibition Review: Constantin Brancusi,” The Art Quarterly XXXIV, 2 (1971): 238-240, as Sleeping Muse.
Oprea, Petre, C. Brancusi (Bucharest: Muzeul de Arta al Republicii Socialiste România, 1972), n.p. (ill.), as Muza Adormita / Muse endormie / Sleeping Muse.
Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: The Sculpture and Drawings (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1975), (ill.), 177–8 (cat. 72b), 195, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Deborah Menaker Magid, “A Note on Brancusi and the London Salon,” Art Journal 35, no. 2 (Winter 1975-1976): 105.
Brancusi, Constantin, Omagiu lui Brancusi (Sibiu: Rivista Tribuna, 1976), n.p. (ill.), as Muza Adormita.
Paleolog, V. G., Brancusi–Brancusi vol. 1 (Craiova: Scrisul Romanesc, 1976), 56 (ill., fig. 29), as Muza Adormita.
Grigorescu, Dan, Brancusi (Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1980), n.p. (ill., fig. 29), Muza adormita, 1910.
Deac, Mirca, Brâncusi: Surse Archetipale (Iasi: Romania, 1982), n.p. (ill.), as Muza adormita.
Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1983), 35 (ill.), 218 (cat. 57a), 258 (cat. 72b), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Jianu, Ionel, Constantin Brancusi: Viata si opera (Bucharest: Editura stiintifica si enciclopedica, 1983), n.p. (ill., fig. 23), as Muza Adormita, 1910.
Hulten, Pontus, Natalia Dumitresco, and Alexandre Istrati, Brancusi (Paris: Flammarion, 1986), 284 (cat. 62b), as La Muse endormie I, 1910.
Bach, Friedrich Teja, Constantin Brancusi: Metamorphosen Plasticher Form (Cologne: Dumont Buchverlag, 1987), 338 (ill., fig. 368), 430 (ill., cat. 99b), as Schlummernde Muse (La Muse endormie), 1910.
Osgood, Charles, “Chicago Arts: Musing,” The Chicago Tribune (Sunday, June 14, 1987), 28 (ill.), as Muse, 1910.
Andreotti, Margherita, “Brancusi’s Golden Bird: A New Species of Modern Sculpture,” Museum Studies 19, 2 (1993), 198 (n. 1), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Voltz-Locher, Christa, Constantin Brancusi (Kultur Verlag/Austria, 1994).
Rowell, Margit, Friedrich Teja Bach, and Ann Temkin, Constantin Brancusi: 1876–1957 exh. cat. (Paris: Gallimard/Centre Georges Pompidou, 1995), 105 (cat. 17, ill.), as Muse endormie, 1910.
Silber, Evelyn, Gaudier-Brzeska: Life and Art (New York: Thames and Hudson Limited, 1996), 124, 125 (ill., fig. 93), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Wood, James N. and Teri J. Edelstein, The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), 23 (ill.), 158, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Wood, James N. and Debra N. Mancoff, Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2000), 243 (ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Vivian Endicott Barnett, The Chicago Lawyer Arthur Jerome Eddy and His Eclectic Art Collection (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Press, 2022), 95, 96, fig. 11.1 (color ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Klaus Biesenbach and Maike Steinkamp, eds., Brancusi, exh. cat. (Berlin: Distanz Verlag GmbH, 2026), 71 (color ill.), 230, as La Muse endormie (Schlafende Muse/Sleeping Muse).

London, Allied Artists Association, Royal Albert Hall, Sixth London Salon, July 1913, cat. 1167.
New York, Gallery of the Photo-Secession, Constantine [sic] Brancusi, March 12–April 1, 1914, n.p., (cat. 4), as Sleeping Muse.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection, September 19–October 22, 1922, n.p. (cat. 8), as Sleeping Muse.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture, December 22, 1931–January 17, 1932, p. 28 (cat. 21), 30, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Chicago, Renaissance Society, A Selection of Works by Twentieth-Century Artists, June 20–August 20, 1934, n.p. (cat. 4), as Sleeping Muse, 1909.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cubism and Abstract Art, March 2–April 19, 1936, p. 205 (cat. 16), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum, Pictures for Peace: A Retrospective Exhibition Organized from the Armory Show of 1913, March 18–April 16, 1944, n.p. (cat. 3), as Sleeping Muse.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (organizer), Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition, p. 44 (ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 23–November 15, 1969; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, November 21, 1969–February 15, 1970; Art Institute of Chicago, March 14–April 26, 1970.
Bucharest, Museum of Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957, June 1970, pp. 34, 94 (ill.), 95 (cat. 20), as Muza Adormita, 1910; traveled to The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, September 19–November 29, 1970, pp. 50 (cat. 11), 81 (ill.), as Slapende muze, 1910.
Paris, Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Constantin Brancusi, April 11–August 21, 1995, p. 105 (cat. 17, ill), as Muse endormie, 1910; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 8–December 31, 1995.
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 6, 2013–Feb. 16, 2014, no cat. no.
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Brancusi, Rosso, Man Ray - Framing Sculpture, Feb. 8, 2014– May 25, 2014.
Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Brancusi, Mar. 20-Aug. 9, 2026, no cat. no, as La Muse endormie (Schlafende Muse/Sleeping Muse).

The artist, Paris; sold to Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859–1920), Chicago, July 1913 [Eddy 1914 and Barnett 2022]; by descent to his wife, Lucy O. Eddy (1863–1931) and son, Jerome O. Eddy (1891–1951), Chicago, 1920; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1931.

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