Revolution and Nightmare

The Dark Side of Reason

Wright of Derby, Fuseli, Blake, Martin, Palmer and Turner, 1768–1835

In the decades around 1800, British artists turned to dreams, visions and catastrophe, often against the confident science of their age. Some made pictures for London's crowded public exhibitions; others, like Blake, worked mainly for a few patrons and friends.

• A forerunner: a science lesson lit by a single candle
• Fuseli's bedroom demon and Blake's visionary prints and watercolors
• A defiant poet, a moonlit harvest and a city fire as subjects for awe

Works in this part

• An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
• The Nightmare
• The Ancient of Days
• Newton
• The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
• The Bard
• The Harvest Moon
• The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834

Image: Detroit Institute of Arts (open access) · Public domain