Sleeping Muse

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.