When I observe the entirety of Rousseau's The Dream, I immediately feel that it is not the correct piece.  Not insofar as the title is misleading, but I'm simply not taken aback by the figures or forms, the "exotic" setting, or the irony of the naked woman on the couch gazing upon balck flute player.  I'm more preoccupied with it's awkwardness.  The first question I ask myself is "Why do the lion's eyes look as if someone has told them to act surprised?  And then, because they are lions, they simply don't know, so they copy the look that they see on a human's face right before they've been attacked."

And then my eyes are taken to the colors of the dress (or garment) worn by the flute player and my brain seems to be faulting at the choice of colors.  I feel as if he was trying to finish any left over colors on his palette.  The reclining woman, on the other hand, seems to be enchanted by his prodigious presence.  Her form and figure seem half-baked.  The expression on her face reminds me of one who simply notices the presence of another (e.g. the way we notice a wall so as not to walk into it), however her nudity and reclined position promotes her expression to a sublime joy at what she is experiencing.    

It most likely was produced to be exhibited at the Salon des Independants from 18 March to 1 May 1910.