Sign in or join

See it hung

The Dreamer (La Rêveuse)

Look first

  • What catches your attention?
  • Where does your eye go next?
  • What would you ask about this work?
Show me

Look at her turban and fur-trimmed gown, then at her sideways glance and the closed fan in her hands.

Skip to the reading

This small panel, about 23 centimeters tall, takes its traditional title from a print made after it for a wider public. Like several of Watteau’s small figure paintings, it borrows its costume from the theater: the woman wears an imaginary Turkish outfit, a sign of the European taste for things Turkish at the time. Many painters of the 18th century followed his delicate, intimate manner.

Spot an error?

Oil on panel · 23.2 × 17 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Rococo

Read more at the Art Institute of Chicago

Sources

Look again

What do you notice now?

Try a quick sketch

Take a minute to sketch on any paper. No upload needed.

What did you draw first? What did you leave out?

Details and source

Museum title
The Dreamer (La Rêveuse)
Artist
Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684–1721)
Date
1712–14
Medium
Oil on panel
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.)
Credit line
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Art Institute of Chicago

Artist’s life 1684–1721

Rococo c. 1720–1770s

View in the Atlas

Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

The Dreamer (La Rêveuse) · Jean Antoine Watteau, 1712–14
Fit
MuseumM
Shortcuts ?
Enter
Look closer
+ −
Zoom in / out
0
Fit the whole artwork
← → ↑ ↓
Pan the image while zoomed
← →
Previous / next artwork, outside this view
M
Enter or return to the museum
Esc
Close this view; press again to enter the museum

Tab moves between controls. Browser zoom shortcuts stay available.

The Dreamer (La Rêveuse), Jean Antoine Watteau

+ − Zoom · Arrow keys pan · M Museum · Esc Close