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The Nightmare, 1781 by Henry Fuseli
Canvas Print - 19781-FUS

Location: Detroit Institute of Arts, USA
Original Size: 101.7 × 127 cm

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli (1781) is reproduced as a museum-quality giclée canvas print. Printed with archival inks on 400 g/m² canvas and hand-varnished for UV protection, it can be made in any size up to 41.3 × 51.6 in, scaled proportionally, with optional framing. Free worldwide shipping available; unframed prints ship in 2 workdays, framed in 7 to 8. Guaranteed 100-year color durability.

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, 1781 - canvas print
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Giclée Canvas Print | $74.66 USD

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SKU:19781-FUS
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Print/Image Size
Rolled
Production: 2 Workdays
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Giclée Print Quality on 400 g/m² Canvas, Satin/Gloss

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Largest Available
41.3″ × 51.6″
Framing: Long Side Up to 28"
Can be Framed

Sizes scale proportionally to the original. Dimensions shown are for the printed area - we always add 1.2 in of blank canvas on every side for stretching.

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Also Available as Oil Painting Reproduction

Questions about this Print

The size you set is the printed image, the part you see once the canvas is stretched. Beyond that size we add 1.2 in of blank canvas on every side, at no extra cost, so the stretcher bars have something to grip. A 17.3 × 21.7 in print therefore arrives as 19.7 × 24 in. Both numbers are shown in Your Selection above and change with the slider.

Yes. The slider covers every size up to 41.3 × 51.6 in, always in the proportions of the original. If you need something larger, or a size that has to fit a frame you already own, write to us with the title and the dimensions and we will tell you what is possible. Every print is made to order, so there is usually a way.

Because the original is an oil painting on canvas. We match the print medium to the original: oil paintings go on canvas, works on paper go on fine art paper. Our canvas is natural cotton, 400 g/m² Canvas, acid-free and pH neutral, and its woven texture gives the most natural impression of Henry Fuseli's original oil painting. The finish is satin/gloss, which keeps the depth of the dark tones the way varnish does on a painting in a museum; a matte canvas looks dull and pale next to it. More about our print media.

Start with the original, which measures 101.7 × 127 cm. A print at or near that size reads the way the artist judged it. Printing smaller is easy; enlarging a small original changes its character. For the wall, above a sofa or a sideboard aim for two thirds to three quarters of the furniture width, and hang the center at eye level. Cut paper to size and tape it to the wall before you order. The original hangs in Detroit Institute of Arts, USA. Full size guide.
30-day returns on unframed prints. Shipping, framing, care and returns are covered in our Help & FAQ.

About the Painting

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.

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