Le Sommeil (The Sleepers)

Le Sommeil (translated in English variously as The Sleepers and Sleep) is an erotic oil painting on canvas by French artist Gustave Courbet created in 1866. The painting, which depicts a lesbian couple, is also known as the Two Friends (Les Deux Amies) and Indolence and Lust (Paresse et Luxure). Le Sommeil was originally commissioned by the Turkish diplomat and art collector of the late Ottoman era, Halil Şerif Paşa, who had lived in Paris since 1860. The painting was not permitted to be shown publicly until 1988, like a number of his other works such as L'Origine du monde. When Le Sommeil was exhibited by a picture dealer in 1872, it became the subject of a police report. One of the models for the painting was Joanna Hiffernan, who was the mistress of fellow painter James Abbott Whistler at the time. Whistler's relationship with Hiffernan ended soon afterwards, and his opinion of Courbet soured. The painting was inspired by Charles Baudelaire's poem "Delphine et Hippolyte", from his collection Les Fleurs du mal. Le Sommeil has been interpreted as a realist painting, detailing the bodies without glossing over their imperfections.