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Topics

Dreams and nightmares

  • Summary
The Poet’s Dream
Image credit: Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture

The Poet’s Dream

John Faed (1819–1902)

Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture

Art is able to breathe life into the worlds of dreams and imagination. Dreams and nightmares were especially important to artists of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Romantic movement, most notably and obviously, Henry Fuseli. They were seen as an essential part of the artistic imagination and could be deliberately brought on by the use of opium.


At the end of the nineteenth century, dreams became an inspiration to the Symbolists, Post-Impressionists and the Expressionists.

Read more
In the early twentieth century, Freud emphasised the importance of dreams in understanding the mind and his work inspired the work of the Surrealists and later artists.

Artworks

  • The Poet’s Dream
    The Poet’s Dream John Faed (1819–1902)
    Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture
  • Dragon Ship*
    Dragon Ship* Trevor Murray
    Nottinghamshire County Library Service
  • Birdman
    Birdman Stefan Gorski (b.1932)
    Nottingham City Museums & Galleries
  • The Capercaillie Sings His Lovesong
    The Capercaillie Sings His Lovesong John Bellany (1942–2013)
    Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre
  • Death of a Child
    Death of a Child John Arthur Dodgson (1890–1969)
    Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre
  • In My Back Yard
    In My Back Yard Nick Fredman (b.1955)
    Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre
  • The Coming of Spring
    The Coming of Spring George Wallace Jardine (1920–2002)
    Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre
  • 252 more

Stories

  • Detail from the Garden of Earthly Delights (left panel)
    The art of dreams: creativity through the unconscious

    Chloe Nahum

  • 1844, colour woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861)
    The nation's scariest art

    Molly Tresadern

  • Drawing the unconscious: Jungian psychoanalysis of dream drawings

    Cortney Ellis

  • Arts Council Collection exhibition 'Too Cute! by Rachel Maclean at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
    Too cute! What happens when sweet gets sinister?

    Jade King

  • The nation's scariest art, part 2: dare you explore the Wellcome Collection?

    Jade King

  • Write on Art: 'The Pomps of the Subsoil' by Leonora Carrington

    Katie Joslin-Allen

Learning resources

  • dts-tate-tate-t07989-001-1.jpg
    Lesson plan
    Dorothea Tanning and Surrealism
    • KS3 (ENG)
      KS4 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      KS4 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      CfE Sen. (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
      KS4 (WAL)
  • mood-atmosphere-preview-1.jpg
    Lesson plan
    Painting mood and atmosphere: Louis Mbughuni
    • KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
      KS4 (ENG)
      KS4 (NI)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS4 (WAL)

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® is a registered trade mark of the Public Catalogue Foundation.
Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and Scotland (SC048601).