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The Nightmare
Henry Fuseli · Romanticism & Landscape
- Artist
- Henry Fuseli (Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1741–1825)
- Date
- 1781
- Dimensions
- 101.6 x 127 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, United States
Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare shows a young woman sprawled across a bed in a deep, troubled sleep. A grinning demon crouches on her chest, and a ghostly horse with blank white eyes pushes its head through the curtains behind her.
A closer look
The painting gives visible form to a bad dream rather than illustrating any story. The demon refers to old folk beliefs that nightmares were caused by evil spirits sitting on sleepers’ chests, and the horse is a pun on the word “nightmare” itself. The contrast between the woman’s pale, limp body and the dark, threatening intruders creates an atmosphere of terror and unease. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782, it caused a sensation and was widely copied in prints and caricatures.