The Nightmare
The artist
Henry Fuseli, a Swiss-British painter who loved dreamy and imaginative stories.
What you see
A sleeping woman dreams while a funny little creature sits on her, and a horse with big eyes peeks through the curtains.
The story
Painted in 1781, it is a playful picture of a spooky dream, and people found it so exciting that Fuseli painted it more than once.
The style
He used deep shadows and one bright glow on the sleeping woman to make the whole scene feel like a strange dream.
Look closer
The little creature is called a mare, an old word people used for a funny dream, which is why we say night-mare.
Where to see it
You can see it at the Detroit Institute of Arts in the United States.
Fun fact
This dreamy painting became so well known that it inspired many stories, poems, and even scary-fun movies later on.