Monstrosity in European Art: A reflection on the role of Monstrosity in 19th century paintings

The Nightmare (1781)

          The Nightmare shows a woman dressed in white and draped across a bed being haunted or assaulted by an imp and a dark horse. To give some historical context for the piece, unlike other major works of art at the time The Nightmare does not have a “moralizing subject” or origin for its scene, like the bible or ancient literature. Instead, the meaning stems from the name “nightmare”; mare was originally defined as “a spirit that, in heathen mythology, was related to torment or to suffocate sleepers. A morbid oppression in the night resembling the pressure of weight upon the breast.” With an Imp and horse representing the mares, the painting invokes themes of horror, sexuality, and morbidity while expressing a commentary on the hopeless nature of light fighting dark.
          This painting is fascinating for its norm-breaking subject matter. As mentioned earlier, Fuseli had a fascination for the supernatural which he saw as more worthy of display. Moreover, by applying our lens of monstrosity onto this painting, more can be learned about and through it. For instance, we can easily connect the concepts of the supernatural and the monstrous and, by extending the meaning of this piece, see the ambiguity and fear regarding sleep as one layer of the piece. The nature of sleep itself is in the painting viewed as sinister and vulnerable, the monsters being creations of that fear. Additionally, the views of chastity and purity resurface as imps were said to “lie atop people in their sleep or even to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women” which doubles the theme of vulnerability in the piece. While being groundbreaking for its time in subject matter, its fascinating that understanding the inherent monstrosity of the piece can help us analyze it and continue its interpretation.
 

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