The aesthetics of the gothic

   Füssli - The Nightmare  (1781)

This picture was painted  by Johann Heinrich Füssli, a Swiss painter and writer, in 1781. This painting became famous since its exhibition at the Royal Academy of London in England in 1782.

First, we can see on this picture three characters : One woman, one mare, and one devil, more precisely an incubus ( creature which preys on the body of a sleeping woman to assault her sexually)

We are going to speak about the different characters and the interpretations of this picture.

At first, we can see young woman who attracts our attention because the light focuses on her, exactly on her neck (bare)  the symbol of feminity . She seems dead because she is laying still with head thrown back. We can also think so because on the small table, there is a vial, maybe filled with some poison that she took. She is dressed in white which states indirectly the innocence and the vulnerability of the woman.

Next,  we can see an incubus who is squatting on the young woman. He seems to be angry and he stares at the spectator.  We can see his shadow on the bottom of the picture which creates a form of symmetry. He looks unhappy because he was probably disturbed in his action.

Similarly, the mare who is most likely white, is also a witness of the scene like the spectator.  

I like this picture because I love the difference between the innocence of the woman and the diabolic aspect of the incubus. But  I don't like the devil's look. I found that terrifying !