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A Measure of Dreams

ca. 1908
Not on view
In 1908 the art critic James Gibbons Huneker described this picture as follows: “One woman of noble contour walks as in a dream through a delicious landscape. She has come from a dream and is crossing the bridge of transition; soon she shall be enveloped in the splendors and terrors of a new dream.” Inspired by his study of psychology and by Symbolist works such as those of Odilon Redon, Davies had a keen interest in dreams and believed that sleep could liberate the imagination. On waking, he sometimes recorded his own dreams in notes and sketches that he hung in his studio and later developed into paintings.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Measure of Dreams
  • Artist: Arthur B. Davies (American, Utica, New York 1862–1928 Florence)
  • Date: ca. 1908
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 18 x 30 in. (45.7 x 76.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of George A. Hearn, 1909
  • Object Number: 09.72.4
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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