The painting is in the style of the artist Gustave Courbet, The painting depicts a naked woman lying on a bed with her hair down. She is lying on her back with her left arm raised, on which a parrot is sitting with open wings. There is a parrot stand on the right side of the bed. After the painting appeared, critics noted a very modern look of a naked woman, ("a real, living Frenchwoman"), unlike many images of Venus or Eve painted by other academic artists.