A groundbreaking exhibition titled "The Empire of Sleep" is currently on view at the Musée Marmottan-Monet in Paris, offering visitors an unprecedented exploration of how sleep has inspired Western artists throughout history. The show, which runs through March 1, marks the first major French exhibition dedicated entirely to this mysterious state that occupies approximately one-third of human life. Curated by neurologist and science historian Laura Bossi alongside Sylvie Carlier, the museum's director of collections, the exhibition brings together approximately 130 paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, graphic works, objects, and scientific documents from around 70 private collections and major French and international institutions.
The exhibition opens with five masterpieces displayed in a rotunda draped with heavy blue curtains, immediately establishing the timeless and universal nature of sleep. Among the featured works is Giuseppe Antonio Petrini's 1740 masterpiece "The Sleep of Saint Peter," which anchors the historical scope of the show. The collection spans from Renaissance masters like Rembrandt and Dürer to modern icons such as Monet, Picasso, and Munch, as well as Vuillard and biblical scenes. While the majority of works date from the 19th and early 20th centuries, the thematic arrangement creates a dialogue across centuries, revealing how artists have consistently returned to sleep as a subject of fascination.
According to curator Laura Bossi, sleeping models represented ideal subjects for painters because they remained perfectly still. This practical consideration explains why numerous artists painted their relatives, spouses, friends, lovers, or anonymous strangers in various states of slumber. The exhibition showcases intimate depictions ranging from Monet's sleeping son to exhausted street vendors taking their rest. These works reveal how the sleeping figure allowed artists to study the human form in a state of complete vulnerability and tranquility, creating compositions that balance technical skill with emotional resonance.
The show delves into ancient mythology and religious texts, demonstrating how sleep has carried symbolic weight for millennia. In Greek mythology, Night (Nyx) gives birth to both Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos), a relationship powerfully visualized in Evelyn de Morgan's symbolist painting showing the twins distributing red poppies across the sky. The exhibition also examines biblical references, such as Adam sleeping during Eve's creation. These mythological connections reveal the inherent ambiguity of sleep—simultaneously beautiful and mysterious, connecting eros and thanatos in ways that have captivated artists across generations.
A dedicated section explores disturbed sleep, nightmares, and the influence of psychoanalysis and psychotropic substances. Francisco Goya and Swiss artist Johann Heinrich Füssli confronted the darker aspects of the Enlightenment by giving form to elusive nightmare figures. The exhibition also addresses how opium dens became both sources of sleep and artistic inspiration in the 19th century, when laudanum was commonly consumed to induce sleep. Symbolist painters frequently depicted these spaces and the poppy plant itself, transforming it into a potent symbol of sleep, oblivion, and ultimately death. This section demonstrates how sleep, when prevented or chemically induced, becomes an object of intense desire and artistic investigation.
The exhibition concludes with a space devoted to the bed and bedroom, featuring several gems including Eugène Delacroix's and Avigdor Arikha's empty cots, and Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida's masterpiece showing a mother and newborn asleep in a sea of white sheets. A final work by Balthus, titled "The Moth," depicts a young woman about to go to bed, bringing the viewer back to the intimate and personal nature of sleep. Through these diverse representations, "The Empire of Sleep" reveals how this universal human experience continues to inspire artistic innovation and philosophical reflection.
