La Nuit, sculpture by Aristide Maillol
La Nuit is a bronze sculpture in Paris's 1st arrondissement measuring roughly 1.1 m (3.6 ft) in height, 1.05 m (3.4 ft) in width, and 0.6 m (2 ft) in depth. The piece depicts a seated figure with simplified forms and relaxed proportions, showing the smooth surfaces and balanced composition typical of Aristide Maillol's approach to sculpture.
Aristide Maillol created La Nuit in 1909, after the success of his showing at the Paris Salon d'Automne prompted the commission. It is one of his first monumental pieces, cast in a single piece on a flat support. Since 1964 the bronze has stood in the Jardin du Carrousel of the Tuileries, in the 1st arrondissement, among an open-air group of his statues.
The title refers to night and rest: the woman hides her head between her arms, knees raised to support her elbows, hair gathered in a bun. Maillol made it after the success of his showing at the Paris Salon d'Automne, and it counts among his first monumental pieces.
La Nuit stands in the Jardin du Carrousel, the open garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement. It is one of several Maillol bronzes shown outdoors there since 1964, so it can be seen while walking the garden paths; the blank plaque on the left face of its pale stone plinth marks the piece.
La Nuit is one of Maillol's first monumental pieces, made as a single piece on a flat support after the success of his showing at the Paris Salon d'Automne. Its rounded forms recall Greek sculpture models, yet the work is impressionist in its emphasis on a single instant: a woman hiding her head between her arms, perhaps resting at night.
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