The Nightmare

A young woman dressed in white lies across a bed, deep in sleep. Her arms hang down, and her head tips over the edge of the bed into the void. Crouching on her chest is an incubus, an ape-like demon: the word comes from the Latin incubare, “to lie upon”. Behind, between two curtains, the head of a horse with blank eyes emerges. Light falls on the sleeper’s pale body while the room remains in shadow. The painting seems to show both the dreaming woman and the content of her nightmare.

The horse is a pun: the English word nightmare contains mare, a female horse. For the public of the time, the incubus and the mare evoked folk beliefs about bad dreams. A preliminary chalk sketch did not include the horse, which Füssli may have added as an afterthought.

Exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1782, the painting caused a sensation and made Füssli famous. To meet its success, he painted at least three other versions. The work likely inspired Mary Shelley for a scene in Frankenstein.

In the Heritage range, this work is linked to Yharnam, who recognises Füssli as an influence.

Original work: Henry Fuseli (Johann Heinrich Füssli, Swiss, 1741-1825), The Nightmare, 1781, oil on canvas, 101.7 × 127.1 cm. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Bert L. Smokler and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman (accession number 55.5.A). Public domain work, digital image from Artvee (artvee.com).

This art print is a reproduction, printed in France by Atelier Kyodai Print on 230 gsm premium matte paper. It is available in two sizes: 30 × 40 cm and 50 × 70 cm.

Combining terror and eroticism, Fuseli's The Nightmare is without doubt one of the most fascinating masterpieces of English painting. An engraving of it hung in Freud's apartment in Vienna, and it still keeps its share of mystery.

Henry Fuseli page →

230 gsm premium matte paper
Printed by Atelier Kyodai Print

Paper and process are chosen with the artist and the workshop to respect the original work. Every copy is checked before shipping. Printed in France.

Magnetic hanging bars: one 2 cm-wide natural wood bar at the top, one at the bottom, holding the print with magnets, with no holes and no damage to the paper. Lengths of 31, 51 and 71 cm to match the sizes, with a hanging cord. Delivered in the tube with your print.

Wooden frame: natural-finish wooden frame with a protective plexiglass front. Available for the 30 × 40 and 50 × 70 cm sizes. Your work arrives already framed, ready to hang: it ships in a box, not in a tube.

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