Sleeping Woman 

Georges Seurat made this conté crayon drawing of a sleeping woman in France sometime in the 1880s. The image presents an intimate view of everyday life during the Industrial Revolution. Seurat was interested in showing the lives of working-class people in modern Paris, and this drawing may be a study for a larger composition. The treatment of the figure is interesting because the woman is at rest, at peace. Seurat created the drawing using the chiaroscuro technique, where the strong contrast between light and dark is used to model forms and create a dramatic effect. By thinking about the historical context of France during this period, and doing some research, it's possible to understand the artist's motivation for depicting the subject. We might ask, what was the role of women in French society in the late 19th century? And how might social and political factors have influenced the artist's decision to depict the subject?