UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

SARAWAK

COLLEGE OF CREATIVE ARTS

An Overview of The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

VCS105

ART AND DESIGN APPRECIATION

STUDENT’S NAME:

Dania Iwani Binti Muhammad [2022849888]

LECTURER’S NAME:

Ms. Wan Juliana Emeih Wahed

January 2023
 Acknowledgement

I would like to express my profound gratitude to Ms. Wan Juliana Emeih Wahed, for

her contributions to this assignment titled, An Overview of The Nightmare by Henry

Fuseli. Without you, I wouldn’t have known or introduced to this art movement. Your

useful advice and guidelines were really helpful to me during this whole assignment’s

completion. In this aspect, I am respectfully grateful to you.

I would like to acknowledge that this assignment was completed entirely by me,

Dania Iwani Binti Muhammad [2022849888], and not by anyone else.

Thank you for your time,

Dania Iwani.
 List of Figures

Figures Page

Figure 1.1 1

Figure 1.2 2
 Table of Contents
Content Page

Acknowledgement i

Abstract ii

List of Figures iii

Table of Contents iv

1.0 Artist’s Biography 1

2.0 An Appreciation of The Nightmare painting 2

2.1 Formalistic 3
2.2 Content 4
3.0 Conclusion 5

4.0 References 6
1.0 Artist’s Biography

Johann Heinrich Füssli, professionally known as Henry Fuseli, was a Swiss-English-

born painter, writer, and draughtsman on art, born on February 7th, in the year 1741.

Died on April 16th, 1825. He was the second born of Swiss portrait painter, Johann

Caspar Füssli and his wife, Anna Elisabeth Waser, out of 18 other siblings. His

passion for Neoclassical and Romanticism paintings rose from the influence of his

father, who introduced him to the ideas of art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann

and German painter Anton Raphael Mengs, both shared an enthusiasm for classical

antiquity.

Reynolds had encouraged Fuseli to pursue painting in 1768, and he went to Italy with

John Armstrong in 1770. He looked to Michelangelo, mannerist art, and classical

sculpture for inspiration. After becoming friends with Swedish sculptor Johan Tobias

Sergel, he took on the role of being a leader to a group of innovative young artists.

Fuseli made his reputation with The Nightmare after returning to London in 1780. He

committed most of his time to paintings with Shakespearean themes up until the

gallery's launch in 1789 after being involved with John Boydell's plan to hire the best

artists of the time on a Shakespeare Gallery from the beginning in 1786.

Figure 1.1 : Henry Fuseli

2.0 An appreciation of The Nightmare painting

Oil paint was the medium used to make this piece in 1781.This piece features a

woman draping over her mattress, with her arms and neck hanging from the side of

the bed, almost touching the ground, a horse and goblin like creature resting on her

chest with glowing eyes, flaring nostrils with a shadowy background on a red curtain.

The goblin like creature is an incubus which is a type of spirit that lie on top of people

in their sleep. Right beside her feet is a table with items on them.

Figure 1.2 The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

2.1 Formalistic

The main element of art that could be seen off the bat is line, which could be seen in

the woman’s dress, bed sheets and curtain. Quite defined lines could also be seen on

the side table on the left and the creatures which leads to the next element which is

shape. Other than that, Fuseli used mostly warm, dark toned colours to colour

majority of the painting except for her dress and pale skin of the woman.

I think Fuseli wanted to contrast the woman in this piece by using bright and pale

colours to emphasize on her dress and skin. This painting is pretty asymmetrical from

the position of the woman, the bed sheets, horse and incubus.
2.2 Content

The woman’s eyes are closed, which could indicate she’s either in a deep sleep or

dead the way she has her mouth open maybe to breathe easier. Her messy room could

portray maybe the fact that she’s stressed about something. Thus, having a nightmare

and the incubus and horse disturbing her slumber. She looks uneasy and stressed from

the disturbance of her sleep by two said creatures.

The creature sitting on her chest, the incubus, is a mythological creature that lies on

top of people while they sleep, mostly women, to engage in sexual activities with

them. The horse on the other hand, could be an indication for an evil spirit that

tortures people in their dreams.

3.0 Conclusion

The Nightmare offers a wide range of opinions and views for this piece. The most

recent study, explains why critics and other people are attracted to the painting and

may project their personal perspectives and experiences on the work, even if they go

against the era in which the painting was created. The Nightmare demonstrates how

the composition encourages each person to experience and relate to the experience in

the painting. This painting might be disturbing for others but I find it beautiful in its

own way.

In my opinion, this is a good way of showing how sleep paralysis feels from personal

experience. The mass and volume portrayed in the painting is exactly how it felt for

me when I had a nightmare with a creature sitting on my chest, not being able to do

anything about being disturbed in the dream, really shows how terrifying a nightmare

could be. I’m so astonished at how well Fuseli managed to show how it looks and

feels to experience sleep paralysis as it is something science does not have an answer

to either, shows how even back in the day, people already started believing in

mythological creatures.
4.0 References

Paulson, N. (n.d.). Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare – Smarthistory.

https://smarthistory.org/henry-fuseli-the-nightmare/

Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). The Nightmare: Oil on Canvas, Henry Fuseli, 1781 by. . ..

Poetry Magazine.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/148384/the-

nightmare-oil-on-canvas-henry-fuseli-1781

Spencer’s Painting of the Week. (2010, November 14). The Nightmare (Henry

Fuseli). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4azULu4pPA