The Nightmare

 

The Nightmare-Henry Fuseli 1782

I am running a high temperature so I am going to indulge my taste for lurid, feverish images. Henry Fuseli was a Swiss-born painter who lived in London in the late 18th century, he was an influence on and friend of the great visionary painter-poet William Blake (see The Marriage of Heaven & Hell).

The Nightmare is his most famous and best painting. Both the subject matter and treatment definitely classes it as one of the more important precursors of Surrealism. A squatting demon sits upon the chest of the sleeping woman and in the wings the night-mare is waiting to take her on her nocturnal ride into terror. The dramatic use of lighting and shadow intensifies the ominous atmosphere