Le Sommeil
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Featured:  Illustration: Portrait fantaisiste du marquis de Sade (1866) by H. Biberstein |
The Sleepers (Le Sommeil) is an oil on canvas painting by French artist Gustave Courbet in 1866. The painting, depicting lesbianism, was not permitted to be shown publicly until 1988, like a number of his other works such as L'Origine du monde. It was originally commissioned by the Turkish diplomat Khalil Bey for his private collection. Paintings showing two or more females together seldom displayed much in the way of potential sexual activity between them. When it came to nudity, most women subjects were depicted as dancers or bathers, usually stated as goddesses. Le Sommeil openly depicts two women asleep after love-making (indicated by the broken pearl necklace). It is now exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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