Overview
The Nightmare by Johann Heinrich Fuseli (1741–1825) is an icon of Romanticism and is deeply rooted in collective memory. In his 1790/91 work (Fig. 1), Fuseli combined motifs from art, literature, myth, folk belief, and medicine with his obsessions and created the epitome of a nightmarish image. While the head of the ghostly horse protrudes from behind the curtains in the background, the sleeper is powerless against the truly oppressive feeling of a nightmare. The expressiveness of the artist lies in the intensity of his imagination. The 1781 painting The Nightmare remains his most significant and, at the same time, a most enigmatic masterpiece.
The Nightmare is a famous painting by the master of horror, perfectly reflecting the gloom and oppressive atmosphere of the artist’s idea. It is a transmission of the unconscious, vividly depicting sleep and horror together (Chow 14). When creating his piece, Fuseli did not rely on the motives of any particular literary work. Scholars suggest that the artist was inspired by ghost stories from English and German literature and by tales of sleep paralysis (Chow 14).
The first version of the work, dated 1781, caused a scandal when it was presented at the Royal Academy in London and was, however, well received by the contemporary art environment (Wolfson 675). Today, galleries feature more than 150 exhibits depicting dreams and visions, trembling and delirium permeating paintings, drawings, graphics, books, and films, including numerous caricatures of Fuseli’s work from the 18th century (Wolfson 677). Thus, Fuseli’s work attracts attention and inspires many other artists with its mystery and forcing atmosphere.
Elements
In The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli depicts a darkened interior scene, emphasizing time and plot, conveying them mainly through colors and tone. Most of the composition is dominated by dark hues, which the viewer sees in the predominantly black and dark brown colors. It allows one to set the time of action, namely, the night, and create an eerie mood. Tone also plays a vital role in the work, and it is the luminosity of an individual object, the scene as a whole, and the feeling that the picture leaves (Parashar 9). Fuseli chose darker hues for most of the work but warm and earthy colors such as red and brown, which emphasize the severity of the work.
The figure of a sleeping or unconscious woman in the picture creates an elongated and curved line. The painting is based on implied lines that give the image a sense of movement and draw the viewer into the plot (Miller and Balci 5). Nightmare presents a strong horizontal linearity through the reclining figure of the woman in the center of the composition.
The directional line of the painting shifts the focus from the reclining woman, who, due to the bright expression of the central figure, attracts immediate attention to the creature sitting on her. In addition, the author, thanks to the horizontal position of the girl, emphasizes her passivity through the communicative line. The communicative line can have expressive and emotional content, often detected by visual analysis (Miller and Balci 5). The picture presents the demonic aspect and the embodiment of nightmares and fears.
Principles
The picture focuses mainly on color, tone, and consistent contrasts. Contrast is an artistic technique in the visual arts based on the opposition, difference, and resistance of individual parts and characteristics of the image to enhance the work’s expressiveness as a whole (Parashar 11). Fine arts’ contrast is defined by size, color, movement, texture, silhouette, character, and more (Ionescu et al. 6).
Color contrast is based on hue, lightness, and saturation differences. The only bright source on the canvas is the figure of a reclining woman. Inside the dark, gloomy space, her pale skin and light nightgown appear strongly and attract attention. Due to its grayness and gradual hiding in the darkness, the sheet on the bed also highlights the girl.
Because in the picture, a choice was made to distinguish between light and dark tones, one can say about tonal contrast. Contrast is the difference from lightest to darkest (Parashar 11). In Fuseli’s The Nightmare, this is based on highlighting the sleeping girl and darkening the rest of the background. The juxtaposition occurs through the dark and light areas of the picture, which contrast with each other so that the image allows one to immerse oneself in space and understand the scope of the work.
The only relatively light shade that appears before the viewer in the picture is the brightened eyes of the horse in the background. This element adds creepiness to the animal and creates a demonic effect. However, although the artist probably used the same colors, they are perceived differently due to the consistent contrast, which helps separate their roles. That is, due to the impact of another color, the perception of other changes (Parashar 11). The girl is the only bright element in the picture, which prompts the viewer to the idea of innocence.
In comparison, a horse surrounded by darkness seems more intimidating since it feels like watching from the abyss, the darkest area in the picture. In addition, the horse itself merges with this abyss, which is part of it. Such contrasts as irradiation or contrast of additional colors are not used in the work since there are no two similar objects on a different background, and the color scheme is limited to limited colors.
Content and Context
The viewer is presented with a girl lying on the bed, but it is difficult to understand whether she is in a dream or fainting. The girl’s body is gracefully curved and stretched out on the couch, contrasting with the clumsy demon, hunched over and sitting on top. Behind the curtains, in the darkest place of the picture, a horse’s head with whitish, probably blind, frightening eyes is shown. This image symbolizes demonic possession; that is, it has a specific mythological plot, one of the characteristics of the era of late Romanticism (Chow 4).
Fuseli builds his work on smooth curves and rounded shapes, which allows you to immerse yourself in the style of Venetian painting. A gentlewoman in the same soft, snow-white attire stands out from the heavy, dark background of a nightmare. In addition, along with her pose, the artist displays the victim’s helplessness in front of a nightmare, horror, and fear. This helplessness is also transmitted to the viewer, who feels growing horror. In general, the whole work is turned to the event taking place in the picture.
Three acting characters can be noted in the work: a girl, a creature sitting on her, and a horse in the background. The girl can act as a conductor between reality and dreams. She appears in the most vulnerable position before the viewer: her feet and neck are completely open, her arms are thrown back and hung limply, and her whole posture speaks of weakness. The incubus appears as a woman’s nightmare and can embody various horrors, for example, psychological, sexual, or become a symbol of sleep paralysis. The image of a horse in the background not only acts as a demonic image but also fixes a pun on the title of the work, where the word “Nightmare” deals with the phrase “Nightmare” (Chow 4). However, until now, the public has been worried about the picture, which may have different subtexts hidden behind a seemingly understandable title.
References
Chow, Jeremy. “Succubus Matters.” ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830, vol. 12, no. 1, 2022, Web.
Fuseli, Henry. “The Nightmare.” Wikipedia, Web.
Ionescu, Bogdan, et al., editors. “The Role of Meaning.” Human Perception of Visual Information: Psychological and Computational Perspectives. Springer, 2022, pp. 4-5.
Miller, Kendra, and Selin Balci. “Visual Elements of Art-Line.” Humanities LibreTexts, Web.
Parashar, Lalit Gopal. “Elements Of Art.” Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, vol. 2, no. 1, 2021, Web.
Wolfson, Susan J. “Frankenstein’s Origin-Stories.” Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 83, no. 4, 2020, pp. 663–690., Web.