Die Schlummernde

Die Schlummernde stands in Schrevenpark, Kiel, as a cultural monument in the Schreventeich district. Richard Engelmann created the statue between 1909 and 1910.

The neoclassical work shows a woman half-sitting and half-lying in a roughly shaped chair. Her head tilts gently sideways, supported by her right shoulder. Her left arm rises towards her hair, while carefully rendered details define the female figure. The rough chair contrasts with the detailed body and reflects Adolf von Hildebrand’s theory of form. That theory emphasizes a single, essential view of the sculpture.

Kiel acquired Die Schlummernde in 1926 and placed it in the then Hohenzollernpark. The statue moved near Kleiner Kiel in 1950. It returned to Schrevenpark in 2002, reconnecting Engelmann’s work with its earlier setting.

Engelmann, born in Bayreuth in 1868, studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He later spent time in Paris and Florence before settling in Berlin. His early work drew influence from Rodin. Engelmann later developed a personal style centred on monumental stone sculptures and female forms. Die Schlummernde records that artistic development in a public Kiel park.