Visual Analysis
Henry Fuseli’s oil painting, “The Nightmare”, was painted in 1781 during the Romanticism era. Fuseli depicts a woman asleep in her bed while a mythical creature rests on her chest. A horse is seen in the background, peeking from behind a curtain. Fuseli’s painting has captivated audiences through the centuries. His use of horror was unconventional at the time and shocked many viewers. The scene is very dark and gives the viewer a sense of uneasiness. It shows a memorable gothic fantasy, the depiction of a nightmare. The Nightmare is one of the first paintings of horror and uses storytelling to evoke fear. Fuseli’s own experiences and thoughts crafted the dark painting and it’s meaning is still questioned today.
In the painting there is a woman with an anguished expression on her face, her limp arms thrown over her head. She wears a sheer white dress that glows; her face is cast with light that almost comes from within her. The shining life that manifests from her soul screams innocence and purity to the audience. She is the “damsel in distress” and lies helplessly. The creature that sits on her chest is an “incubus.” Incubi usually prey on females for sexual intercourse. However this “incubus,” or “demon,” is associated with sleep paralysis. The demon is crouched over the woman with a grave look on his face. Fuseli depicts him as a gruesome monster, one who enjoys terrorizing unsuspecting women like the one shown. The horse that stands in the top left hand corner is black with cloudy white eyes. The horse might be a “Mare” which is another creature that gives their victims nightmares.
Fuseli’s use of color creates an eerie atmosphere. He contrasts the brilliant white light on the surface of the sleeping figure’s torso with the stark blue black darkness of the background. While she is the main focal point of the painting, Fuseli uses complementary colors by painting the demon a subtle green and using deep crimson in the fabrics. His use of chiaroscuro shows depth in the figures and folds in the fabrics.
The women’s sheer dress is highly detailed and very realistic. She is also foreshortened because her head and shoulder are painted brighter and larger while her legs get darker and recede into the background of the composition. Fuseli creates so much depth with his use of darker values and tenebrism. We can really sense this nightmare taking place.
In the Romanticism Era artists used human experience and imagination to enliven their works of art. The era emerged at the end of the Enlightenment when reason gave way to fantasy. Fuseli’s painting was first exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1782 where he risked his reputation as a serious artist. His art shocked many with its horrific and sexual themes. His paintings were the first to explore the supernatural. Many historians have tried to deduce what are some of the meanings ascribed to this painting. Some believe that the horse and the demon are the manifestation of the woman’s nightmare. Fuseli also knew many doctors and scientists and could have been exploring the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. On the back of the painting is a sketch of a woman Fuseli once loved.
The Nightmare elicits feelings of fear that lurk in people’s subconscious. Fuseli personifies the idea of the nightmare and gives it a face. The incubus is the nightmare and us his victim. Fuseli’s imagination explored macabre thoughts that we are too afraid to explore. His painting is very relevant to the study of human psychology and how nightmares are perceived. Fuseli explored the monsters we created when we let our fears take advantage over us.
A.Coletti Portfolio 