Rather, the word is derived from mara, a Scandinavian mythological term referring to a spirit sent to torment or suffocate sleepers. The etymology of the word "nightmare", however, does not relate to horses. In these stories, men were visited by horses or hags, giving rise to the terms "hag-riding" and "mare-riding", and women were believed to engage in sex with the devil. The work was likely inspired by the waking dreams experienced by Fuseli and his contemporaries, who found that these experiences related to folkloric beliefs like the Germanic tales about demons and witches that possessed people who slept alone. Emerging from a parting in the curtain is the head of a horse with bold, featureless eyes.įor contemporary viewers, the relationship of the incubus and the horse ( mare) evoked the notion of nightmares. The room is hung with red velvet curtains which drape behind the bed. The interior is contemporary and fashionable and contains a small table on which rests a mirror, phial, and book. Her brilliant coloration 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 sleeper seems lifeless and, lying on her back, takes a position then believed to encourage nightmares. She is surmounted by an incubus that peers out at the viewer. It depicts a sleeping woman draped over the end of a bed with her head hanging down, exposing her long neck. The Nightmare simultaneously offers both the image of a dream-by indicating the effect of the nightmare on the woman-and a dream image-in symbolically portraying the sleeping vision. Contemporary critics were taken aback by the overt sexuality of the painting, since interpreted by some scholars as anticipating Jungian ideas about the unconscious. The incubus and horse's head refer to contemporary belief and folklore about nightmares, but have been ascribed more specific meanings by some theorists. The canvas seems to portray simultaneously a dreaming woman and the content of her nightmare. In response, Fuseli produced at least three other versions. The painting's dreamlike and haunting erotic evocation of infatuation and obsession was a huge popular success.Īfter its first exhibition, at the 1782 Royal Academy of London, critics and patrons reacted with horrified fascination and the work became widely popular, to the extent that it was parodied in political satire and an engraved version was widely distributed. It shows a woman in deep sleep with her arms thrown below her, and with a demonic and ape-like incubus crouched on her chest. The Nightmare is a 1781 oil painting by Swiss artist Henry Fuseli. For other uses, see Nightmare (disambiguation).ĭetroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |