Füssli's Drama and Theatre at Kunstmuseum Basel

The Kunstmuseum Basel presents 'Füssli. Drama and Theatre', a monographic exhibition curated by Eva Reifert, focusing on the Swiss artist Johann Heinrich Füssli (born Zurich 1741, died Putney Hill 1825, buried at St. Paul's Cathedral London). The show features 70 works, including seven from the museum's permanent collection, exploring Füssli's literary-inspired paintings from Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet) and Milton (Paradise Lost). Highlights include a version of 'The Nightmare' from a private collection, depicting a sleeping woman with a monster on her chest and a horse's head, interpreted as a pun on 'night' and 'mare'. The exhibition also includes a contemporary intervention by Tom Luz, resident director of Theater Basel, with video artist Jonas Alsleben. Füssli, known for his romantic sensibility and symbolic precursor status, worked on John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery from 1779 and later created his own Milton Gallery, financed by publisher Johnson and banker Roscoe, which received critical acclaim but little public attention in 1799. The exhibition runs until February 17, 2019, at Kunstmuseum Basel, St. Alban-Graben 8.