The Dreamer (La Rêveuse)
Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684–1721)
1712–14
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 23.2 × 17 cm (9 1/8 × 6 11/16 in.); Framed: 35 × 28.9 × 7 cm (13 3/4 × 11 3/8 × 2 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The traditional title of this small painting, The Dreamer, derives from an engraving made after it, which was intended for sale to a wider audience. The work is one of a number of small figure paintings by Jean-Antoine Watteau in which the subject’s clothing was inspired by contemporary theater. Here, the woman wears a pseudo-Turkish costume, which reflects the Western European vogue for Turkish culture (“turquerie”) at that time. Watteau’s uniquely delicate, sensitive, and intimate style influenced a number of other painters throughout the 18th century.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
