Saturday, November 1, 2008


Henry Fuseli
The Nightmare
1781
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21 comments:

  1. MadPriestNovember 2, 2008 at 6:58 AM

    Or is it a nightmare?
    She looks like she's having a fine time with her little incubus friend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 9:36 AM

    Oh, is that why she looks like she's either passed out or dead? What a way to go - I guess. ;-)

    I love the self-satisfied little smirk on the troll's face.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 9:39 AM

    Oh, Priest. I'm glad you made it over finally. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. MadPriestNovember 2, 2008 at 9:42 AM

    It's not a troll, it's an incubus. They have a lot more fun than trolls.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 10:01 AM

    Oh, yes. They're quite the seducers from what I understand.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pia KNovember 2, 2008 at 3:50 PM

    This painting featured in one of the best episodes of X-files, I must admit it was *slightly* difficult to not let the light on at night after learning the story behind it... Fascinating painting.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 5:56 PM

    Well, then, Pia, I must find out the story behind it! I'm also wondering about the significance of the black horse.

    Thanks for coming by, Pia!

    ReplyDelete
  8. MadPriestNovember 2, 2008 at 6:03 PM

    "Nightmare" comes from the word "mara" meaning "imp" e.g. the incubus. But in English "mare" is a female horse e.g. "night-mare." I think it's a clever joke.

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 6:09 PM

    pffffffffff :P

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 6:09 PM

    Anthropologist Charles Stewart, in his study of erotic dreams and nightmares, characterizes the sleeping woman as "voluptuous,"[4] and one scholar of the Gothic describes her as lying in a "sexually receptive position."[10] In Woman as Sex Object (1972), Marcia Allentuck similarly argues that the painting's intent is to show female orgasm. This is supported by Fuseli's sexually overt and even pornographic private drawings (e.g., Symplegma of Man with Two Women, 1770–78).[3] Fuseli's painting has been considered representative of sublimated sexual instincts.[2] Related interpretations of the painting view the incubus as a dream symbol of male libido, with the sexual act represented by the horse's intrusion through the curtain.[11] Fuseli himself provided no commentary on his painting.

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  11. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 6:10 PM

    Clever...cute, even; but I know how you must be cringing, Priest, to be referred to as "cute".

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  12. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 6:12 PM

    So was this Swiss dude just a good pornographer or what?

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  13. MadPriestNovember 2, 2008 at 6:18 PM

    These commentators are really fixated with men getting it off. I think the thing that shocked the public when the painting was first shown was the fact that the woman is well satisfied. The incubus is a creature that pleasures women and is seen as a challenge to men. The woman is unable to obtain satisfaction from her husband and dreams up this mythical creature that does deliver. The man is relegated to the position of looker on. Maybe the horse is the husband who sees himself as a stallion but who falls at the final hurdle as far as the woman is concerned.

    By the way, I'm making all this up as I go along, but you have to admit it sounds convincing.

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  14. UnknownNovember 2, 2008 at 6:44 PM

    The Priest goes all Freudian on us!
    :-)

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  15. MadPriestNovember 2, 2008 at 6:55 PM

    Oh yeah. I really hadn't thought of it that way. But you're right. And I've always thought that Freud was one big charlatan.

    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownNovember 3, 2008 at 7:36 AM

    But why would the women, as you put it, "dream up" such a hideous little man, instead of, say, a satyr, which is a more more virile fantasy creature. And handsomer.

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  17. MadPriestNovember 3, 2008 at 9:05 AM

    The incubus is usually an invisible demon. The artist is probably saying something about the dark side of human sexuality by allowing us to see its true, ugly appearance. The woman does not see it. Bear in mind that Fuseli flirted with the dark side, himself. Perhaps, the incubus is the artist.

    ReplyDelete
  18. UnknownNovember 3, 2008 at 11:45 AM

    No, I think the incubus is actually the DREAM, so you're right, she can't see him. Yes. I believe we agree on that. But I CAN see him and I wouldn't want him on my chest!

    And yes, she must be in some sort of ecstacy or her head wouldn't be hanging off of the bed, or whatever it is.

    And the incubus, if it is the artist, is a Swiss. Which makes perfect sense that he drew his own pornography because he couldn't realize his sexual fantasies. I've spent some time with Swiss people and no slight intended, but they tend to be rather on the uptight side. Just sayin'.

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  19. UnknownNovember 3, 2008 at 11:46 AM

    Even more so than the English. ;-)

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  20. UnknownNovember 3, 2008 at 12:21 PM

    The incubus is the WEIGHT of the dream. She can feel him but not see him.

    ReplyDelete
  21. MadPriestNovember 3, 2008 at 3:34 PM

    Swiss or not - he liked his porn. That is a known fact.

    ReplyDelete

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