The Dream, exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Francais in 1883, portrays a slumbering man, possibly a traveler, with a bag by his side. Three women in flight approach him, one holding roses symbolizing Love, another with a laurel wreath signifying Glory, and a third scattering coins representing Fortune. The composition features broad areas of muted color, broken up by stylized details like the tree branches sprouting from the ground. This image, unlike his public mural cycles, is a private, self-contained depiction of a dream.

Puvis's work simultaneously looks to the past and the future, like the two-faced Roman deity Janus. The Dream exemplifies this tendency, as it prioritizes symbolism and fantasy over naturalism and realism, evocative of Romantic painting, while also anticipating the more fantastical works of the next generation. One might compare it to Henri Rousseau's Sleeping Gypsy, which echoes the composition but in reverse. Puvis supported and championed younger, more radical artists who shared his desire to escape modern industrialized society through dreams, mythology, or esoteric symbolism, and they in turn were inspired by him. Puvis's influence on these artists seeking an alternative to Realism and the academy went beyond his work as a muralist.