Dream On: Paris Exhibition Explores Sleep in Art from Antiquity to Today

The Marmottan Monet Museum explores the artistic, symbolic and scientific aspects of sleep.

Curated by neurologist and science historian Laura Bossi alongside Sylvie Carlier, the director of the museum’s collections, the show brings together more than 100 works paintings, sculptures, drawings, objects and medical documents-tracing representations of sleep from Antiquity to the modern day, with a special focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. It examine recurring motifs such as the innocence of slumber, biblical dreams, the tension between rest and eternal rest, the eroticism of the sleeping body and the surreal landscapes of dreams and nightmares.

Works by artists such as Morisot, Vallotton, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Hodler, Dalí and Magritte illustrate how each artist brings a different dimension: purity, erotic tension, intimacy, or hallucinatory vision. ‘Empire of Sleep’ also explores the intersection of sleep and science, presenting how mesmerism, sleep disorders and related medical imagery entered the artistic imagination. A section of the exhibition is dedicated to the bedroom, exploring the customs and traditions associated with this highly symbolic space.

October 9-March 1

www.marmottan.fr

From France Today Magazine

Lead photo credit : n bed, Federico Zandomenegh cc museee marmottan monet via wikicommons