Philippe Wolfers
(Brussels 1858-1929)

Les Muses Endormies

(The Sleeping Muses)
Carrara marble
Ca. 1917
Signed Ph. Wolfers
height 181 cm base included

'Les Muses endormies' also named 'Les Sources endormies' (both titles occur in the archives), depicts three sleeping women: the Muses, the inspirations for poets and artists. The muses being asleep means that the Art Nouveau is ending but that the Art Deco will awake soon to be a new inspiration. This is manifested in the sculpture; it has the refinement and the grace of the Art Nouveau while the first signs of the more severe Art Deco are clearly visible.
The women liberated from the strict rules of the academical models are sensually, beautifully and mysteriously depicted with the long wavy hair, the suggestive nudity and the expression of mood and modesty.

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