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The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli
Original price was: $518.00.$259.00Current price is: $259.00.
Artist: Henry Fuseli
A woman asleep with her head thrown back, a squat demon sitting on her chest, and a horse with white eyes pushing through the curtain: the most famous bad dream in art.
Description
Description
About the painting. The Nightmare shows a woman asleep across a bed with her head thrown back, an incubus squatting on her chest and looking out at the viewer, and a horse with white eyes pushing through the curtain. Painted by Henry Fuseli in 1781 and shown at the Royal Academy in 1782, it is the first great painting of the irrational and the image every nightmare since has borrowed. It hangs in the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare shocked London when it was shown at the Royal Academy in 1782 and has not stopped since. A young woman lies asleep across a bed, her head and arm hanging over the edge; on her chest squats an incubus, the demon that folklore blamed for the crushing weight felt in sleep paralysis; and through the curtain behind her a horse pushes its head, eyes white and blind. Fuseli, a Swiss pastor turned painter, put together a scene that had no source in any story, which is why it still frightens: it is a dream, not an illustration.
The engraving of 1783 sold across Europe, and the image has been borrowed by everyone from Gothic novelists to horror films. The original is in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Our hand-painted reproduction is made in oil on canvas from the original, with the darks kept deep so that the sleeper glows.
Additional information
Additional information
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Artwork guide
The story behind The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli
Explore the painting’s history, composition and meaning in the ByMuseum art guide.
Read the history and meaning of The Nightmare by Henry FuseliPRODUCT INFORMATION
Each ByMuseum artwork is a hand-painted oil painting reproduction created by trained artists on high-quality cotton canvas. Every piece is reviewed, finished, and packed according to the framing option you select.
Empty walls flatten a room. A classical artwork restores structure and visual hierarchy. One painting defines the space, anchors furniture, and establishes identity.
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Real brushwork, layered oil paint, and durable pigments on museum-quality canvas.
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Unframed — Rolled in Tube
Your artwork is painted on premium cotton canvas, then shipped safely rolled in a rigid tube with extra blank canvas border — ready for stretching or framing locally.
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For safe shipping, framing is available up to a maximum size. Larger sizes will automatically disable the frame option.
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Choose “Stretched” to receive your canvas mounted on wooden stretcher bars — perfect if you’ll frame it later or display it as-is.
Gallery Wrap
Gallery Wrap is a deeper, 1.5" style stretcher. The canvas wraps around the sides and is stapled on the back for a clean, modern, frameless look.
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Unframed canvases are protected with a film, carefully rolled, and secured inside a rigid shipping tube.
Stretched, Gallery Wrapped, and Framed paintings are wrapped, cushioned with foam protection, and boxed for safe transit.
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