Sleep | |
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Artist | Amrita Sher-Gil |
Year | 1933 |
Dimensions | 112.5 cm × 79 cm (44.3 in × 31 in) |
Location | National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi |
Sleep, also called Indu's Nude or Nude of Indira, is an oil on canvas painting by Amrita Sher-Gil, completed in 1933. It depicts a view from above of Sher-Gil's younger sister Indira, naked and lying on a white sheet at a diagonal, and with one raised arm. Just beneath her is a shawl depicting a dragon, whose body appears to flow in parallel with the flow of her hair and body curves.
Sher-Gil started the painting in 1932 in Paris while also painting a view from the top of Notre-Dame de Paris. Later, it was nearly sold to Nawab Salar Jung and was subsequently displayed at her solo exhibition at Faletti's Hotel in Lahore, British India, in 1937. In 1940, the painting was one of six of her works displayed at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts' Amritsar Exhibition. In 2007, it was shown at the Tate Gallery in London.
Despite Sher-Gil's and National Congressman Diwan Chaman Lall's efforts, the painting was never sold and is housed in the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.