Anna's Dream (Il sogno di Anna)
Luigi Bartolini
Italian, 1892–1963
1941
An etching that translates a sleeping woman's inner life into a swirling, dreamlike scene of ghostly figures hovering above her, capturing a psychological moment rather than a literal narrative.
You first notice a restless mesh of looping, urgent lines and heavy cross-hatching that makes the reclining sleeper feel small beneath translucent, animated apparitions and a dark, claustrophobic background.
Executed in 1941, the print shows how mid‑20th‑century printmakers like Bartolini reinvigorated etching as a means to render subjective, emotional states, using expressive line to bridge narrative and modern psychological exploration.
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
plate: 13 1/4 x 11 1/8" (33.6 x 28.3cm); sheet: 20 1/16 x 14" (51 x 35.5cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
292.1949
Palette
Exhibitions
