In the Third Sleep

In the Third Sleep — Kay Sage. 1944.

Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 100.3 × 144.8 cm (39 1/2 × 57 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Kay Sage depicted a large, two-pronged structure resembling drapery, which rises straight up into the air from a ramp or dock that recedes into the distance at right and is punctuated by geometric and curvilinear forms. The striking canvas suggests the mystifying environs of a dreamscape, reflecting Sage’s fascination with the unconscious. In the mid-1930s, the artist lived in Paris and worked alongside French Surrealists, including Yves Tanguy, whom she married in 1940 after moving to New York at the outbreak of World War II. Painted in 1944, In the Third Sleep attests to her continued investigation of the otherworldly.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.