Full transcript
0:00[Music]
0:02the nightmare was painted by Swiss
0:06English artist Henry Fuseli
0:08in 1781 it is widely considered one of
0:11the greatest gothic horror paintings in
0:13history the painting was first displayed
0:17at the annual Royal Academy exhibition
0:20in London in 1782 where it shocked
0:23fascinated and frightened exhibition
0:25visitors and critics unlike many of the
0:29paintings that were then popular and
0:31successful at the Royal Academy
0:33exhibitions few sally's the nightmare
0:36had no moralizing or established subject
0:39matter the nightmare was one of the
0:42first paintings to depict an idea rather
0:45than an event a story or a person the
0:48scene was a complete product a few
0:50Celia's imagination which was a rare
0:52occurrence at the time the true meaning
0:56of the painting remains a mystery as
0:58fusilli never offered commentary or an
1:01explanation for his work
1:05these scene shows a sleeping woman
1:07draped helplessly over the end of her
1:10bed as well as the images of her
1:12nightmare in her unconscious state the
1:16lying on the back position was believed
1:19at the time to encourage nightmares in
1:21her pose was compared to the renowned
1:23sleeping Ariadne sculpture from ancient
1:26Rome it is believed that fusilli was
1:30inspired by old germanic legends about
1:32demons who possessed people as they
1:34slept
1:35women were said to have been visited by
1:38the devil during sleep and engaged in
1:40sex the figure that sits upon her chest
1:44is known as an incubus a demon spirit
1:47sent to torment or suffocate sleepers
1:50the word nightmare itself derives from
1:53the old english word Mara which means
1:56Incubus fusili used the style of
1:59classical artwork to display the image
2:03emerging from the shadowy background a
2:05glowing eyed horse appears on the scene
2:08according to legend horses were also
2:11believed to enter dreams of sleeping men
2:14however it may have been chosen by
2:16fusilli as a complicated visual pun on
2:19the word nightmare as adult female
2:22horses are known as mares fusilli may
2:26have been inspired by woodcuts about
2:28horses from the German Renaissance the
2:33red bedsheets falling over the edge of
2:36the bed even suggest a river of blood as
2:39it might be symbolically enacted on
2:42stage in a play as fusilli incorporated
2:45themes from Shakespeare into many of his
2:48paintings this element added morbid
2:51undertones to the scenes already
2:53disturbing themes some art historians
2:58believe that the nightmare illustrates
3:01the artists personal feelings of a lost
3:03love of a woman named anna lan holt he
3:06met a few years earlier while traveling
3:08through Europe in this interpretation
3:09the sleeping woman is land Holt while he
3:12is the Incubus cited in support of this
3:16theory is an unfinished portrait of a
3:18girl believed to be land halt which is
3:21on the back of the canvas due to its
3:26sexual undertones and use of dark
3:28imagery the public responded with
3:30horrified intrigue and the nightmare
3:33became an instant success after its
3:35exhibition the painting became so
3:38popular that an inexpensive engraving
3:41was created and circulated widely
3:43shortly after it was shown in the
3:45exhibition fusilli also painted three
3:49more versions of the nightmare with the
3:51most famous between 1790 and 1791
3:56the nightmare became a lasting symbol of
3:59the age of Romanticism and an essential
4:02depiction of gothic horror
4:05[Music]