The Nightmare, 1781 by Henry Fuseli
Canvas Print - 19781-FUS
Location: Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USAOriginal Size: 101.7 x 127 cm
Giclée Canvas Print | $58.84 USD
By using the red up or down arrows, you have the option to proportionally increase or decrease the printed area in inches as per your preference.
*Max printing size: 41.3 x 51.6 in
*Max framing size: Long side up to 28"
"The Nightmare" will be custom-printed for your order using the latest giclée printing technology. This technique ensures that the Canvas Print captures an exceptional level of detail, showcasing vibrant and vivid colors with remarkable clarity.
Our use of the finest quality, fine-textured canvas lends art reproductions a painting-like appearance. Combined with a satin-gloss coating, it delivers exceptional print outcomes, showcasing vivid colors, intricate details, deep blacks, and impeccable contrasts. The canvas structure is also highly compatible with canvas stretching frames, further enhancing its versatility.
To ensure proper stretching of the artwork on the stretcher-bar, we add additional blank borders around the printed area on all sides.
Our printing process utilizes cutting-edge technology and employs the Giclée printmaking method, ensuring exceptional quality. The colors undergo independent verification, guaranteeing a lifespan of over 100 years.
Please note that there are postal restrictions limiting the size of framed prints to a maximum of 28 inches along the longest side of the painting. If you desire a larger art print, we recommend utilizing the services of your local framing studio.
*It is important to mention that the framing option is unavailable for certain paintings, such as those with oval or round shapes.
If you select a frameless art print of "The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli, it will be prepared for shipment within 48 hours. However, if you prefer a framed artwork, the printing and framing process will typically require approximately 7-8 days before it is ready to be shipped.
We provide complimentary delivery for up to two unframed (rolled-up) art prints in a single order. Our standard delivery is free and typically takes 10-14 working days to arrive.
For faster shipping, we also offer express DHL shipping, which usually takes 2-4 working days. The cost of express shipping is determined by the weight and volume of the shipment, as well as the delivery destination.
Once you have added the paintings to your shopping cart, you can use the "Shipping estimates" tool to obtain information about available transport services and their respective prices.
All unframed art prints are delivered rolled up in secure postal tubes, ensuring their protection during transportation. Framed art prints, on the other hand, are shipped in cardboard packaging with additional corner protectors for added safety.
Painting Information
Henry Fuseli’s "The Nightmare," completed in 1781, remains one of the most enigmatic and provocative images in art history, marking Fuseli as a master of the unsettling and the psychological. In this work, we are drawn into the liminal space between sleep and terror - a space where the mind surrenders its control, and the irrational takes hold. Fuseli taps into primal fears with a remarkable clarity of vision, creating a painting that is as much about what we imagine as it is about what we see.
The composition revolves around the figure of a woman, draped in a flowing white gown, seemingly abandoned to sleep. Her pose is almost classical - reclining in an exaggerated curve - yet her face, tilted back with her arm limp, signals that this is no peaceful rest. Above her sits an incubus, grotesque and small, with a sinister expression, symbolic of the darker forces at play within the human mind. The composition’s balance, with the incubus centrally placed on her chest and the wild-eyed horse peeking through the draped curtain, gives the scene an unnerving equilibrium.
Fuseli’s use of color is particularly striking here. The painting is dominated by dark tones, but it is the contrast between the woman’s pale, almost luminescent skin and the deep shadows that creates the tension. The reddish hues in the drapery and the incubus's glow add warmth but at the same time heighten the unease. The play of light and shadow, especially around the incubus and the horse, intensifies the dreamlike quality, while also giving the painting an unexpected, almost theatrical depth.
What’s fascinating about "The Nightmare" is how it avoids the overtly supernatural in favor of the suggestive. It’s not about what we explicitly see, but rather about the feelings it evokes - an intimate, almost claustrophobic horror. The incubus is unnervingly physical, yet the atmosphere it generates is intangible, allowing the viewer to project their own anxieties onto the scene. It’s this subtlety, this ability to make the familiar seem foreign, that defines Fuseli’s genius.
Fuseli was not interested in simply depicting a nightmare, but in capturing the essence of what a nightmare feels like. The combination of the everyday - the woman, her bed, the household objects - with the surreal presence of demonic figures creates a strange, disorienting experience for the viewer. It is no surprise that "The Nightmare" has had a long-lasting impact, even finding resonance in the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud. It remains a powerful testament to Fuseli’s ability to translate the unseen world of dreams and fear into something tangible, yet indefinable.