Rousseau described his painting as follows: "A wandering Negress, a mandolin player, lies with her jar beside her (a vase with drinking water), overcome by fatigue in a deep sleep.

"[1] In the painting, a dark-skinned woman – the Romany gypsy of the title, variously linked in French literature to Bohemia or to Egypt[2] – is sleeping in an arid landscape with mountains in the background, under a dark sky with a few stars and a full moon.

Rousseau first exhibited the painting at the 13th Salon des Indépendants in 1897, and tried unsuccessfully to sell it to the mayor of his hometown, Laval.

Instead, it entered the private collection of a Parisian charcoal merchant where it remained until 1924, when it was discovered and bought by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles.

[3][4] In a Season 28 segment of Sesame Street, Baby Bear shows Big Bird "The Sleeping Gypsy" painting at the Museum of Modern Art in Episode 3529.