The Sleeping Gypsy is an 1897 oil painting

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

 by French Naïve

Naïve art

Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...

 artist Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau

Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier , a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector...

. The fantastical depiction of a lion musing over a sleeping woman on a moonlit night is one of the most recognizable artworks of modern times.

Rousseau first exhibited the painting at the 13th Salon des Indépendants, and tried unsuccessfully to sell it to the mayor of his hometown, Laval

Laval, Mayenne

Laval is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France.It lies on the threshold of Brittany and on the border between Normandy and Anjou. Its citizens are called Lavallois.-Geography:...

. Instead, it entered the private collection of a Parisian charcoal merchant where it remained until 1924, when it was discovered by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles

Louis Vauxcelles

Louis Vauxcelles was an influential French art critic. He is credited with coining the terms Fauvism , and Cubism ....

. The Paris-based art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler purchased the painting in 1924, although a controversy arose regarding the painting was a forgery. It was acquired by art historian Alfred H. Barr Jr. for the New York Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

.

The painting has served as inspiration for poetry and music, and has been altered and parodied by various artists often with the lion replaced by a dog or other animal. In the Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

 episode "Mom and Pop Art

Mom and Pop Art

"Mom and Pop Art" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons tenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 11, 1999. In the episode, Homer inadvertently becomes a well-praised outsider artist after his failed attempts to build a barbecue pit. His exhibit...

" Homer dreams of waking up in the artwork with the lion licking his head. A print of the work appears in the movie "The Apartment

The Apartment

The Apartment is a 1960 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. It was Wilder's follow-up to the enormously popular Some Like It Hot and, like its predecessor, was a commercial and critical hit, grossing $25...

" above the comatose Fran Kubelik.

External links

• The Sleeping Gypsy MoMA Provenance Research
• Sleeping Gypsy-an artists Interpretation