Activit:- Nightmar-
An incubus is a male demon that is known for having intercourse with women while
they are sleeping.
What is your initial impression of the painting?
This painting represents a woman lying down on a bed and is visibly in pain.Above
her chest sits an incubus,looking directly at us,with a furious expression on his
face.Near her bed stands a nightstand,with ink on it.
In the background,red fabric is falling towards the ground.Also,there is a black
horse,coming out from the red fabric,looking towards the incubus,shocked.
Gothic elements
There are some elements that represent the gothic elements in this painting:
The incubus,who is an unknown creature to us humans because of its shape and
face.It is indeed a frightening creature and the fact it is looking towards us can
represent a sense of fear.One of the things that make us scared about the incubus is
that he is standing above this woman,who is in visible pain and unable to respond.By
this analysis this means that the incubus is stronger than the woman and
therefore,stronger than humans themselves.
The second element that represents the gothic style is the shadow behind the
incubus.It is projected on the red fabric,behind the bed.This shadow is not the
incubus’ but an unknown shadow.The unknown is an important part of the gothic
style and literature because the unknown is a threat that we can not prevent from
happening.This shadow has a round shape with the horns of a devil but aside from
this we do not know anything about it:where it is,how scary it is…
Interpret
At some place of the painting,(below the bed;behind the horse;before the incubus)we
can see that those parts of the painting are very dark,which give us very little
information about what is in those places and therefore,we do not know there is a
potential danger,among with incubus.This time again,this element is linked to the
unknown of the gothic style.
Most of the color's background is in a warm color tone,which is this time different
from an average gothic painting,normally represented in dark color tone.The fabric in
the back is a dull orange,which gives it no form of contrast.On the contrary,The
woman’s white towel does attract attention,as one of the main focus along with the
incubus.one of the element that brings attention even if it is not in the spotlight is the
