The Nightmare

Lore & Background

Its erotic and haunting evocation of obsession became a breakthrough success for Fuseli. Critics were taken aback by its overt sexuality, since interpreted as anticipating Jungian ideas about the unconscious. Although Fuseli had unsuccessfully exhibited at the Royal Academy of London many times earlier, critics reacted with horrified fascination when this painting was shown at his 1782 showing, and the Nightmare became his first commercially successful work. The image became popular to the extent that he produced at least three other versions, engraved versions became widely distributed, it was parodied in political satire, and became a frequent source for 19th-century Gothic fiction authors such as Mary Shelley.

In Their Own Story

The blood trail coils like a serpent through the dark. I step onto it, and the floor vanishes. Below, a thousand crying babies echo off walls that breathe. The gun in my hand feels heavy, but I know it's not real. A voice—mine?—whispers from the static: 'You're already dead.' I run, but the path loops back on itself. A door opens to a nursery, but the crib is empty. I wake up screaming, the taste of pills on my tongue.

Reader's Guide

The painting depicts a sleeping woman draped over the end of a bed with her head hanging down, exposing her long neck. She is mounted by an incubus that peers out at the viewer. The sleeper seems lifeless and lies on her back in a position that produces nightmares. Her brilliant colouration is set against the darker reds, yellows and ochres of the background; Fuseli used a chiaroscuro effect to create strong contrasts between light and shade. The interior is contemporary and fashionable and contains a small table on which rests a mirror, phial, and book. The room is hung with red velvet curtains which drape behind the bed. Emerging from a parting in the curtain is the head of a horse with bold, pupil-less eyes.

Did You Know?

• The etymology of the word "nightmare" is derived from a Scandinavian mythological term referring to a spirit sent to torment or suffocate sleepers.
• Fuseli's first known painting was Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of the Butler and Baker of Pharaoh (1768).
• The painting was first shown in 1782 at the Royal Academy of London.
• An engraving by Thomas Burke circulated widely from January 1783 and earned the publisher John Raphael Smith more than 500 pounds.
• The Nightmare likely influenced Mary Shelley in a scene from her 1818 Gothic novel Frankenstein.