Directed by Robert Eggers / Screenplay by Robert Eggers

Of all the many cinema adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu continues to exert a particular fascination. This owes partly to its unauthorised status: Nosferatu was filmed without the permission of Bram Stoker’s estate, hence the changes of title and character names (the vampire himself becomes Count Orlok, played with unforgettable malevolence by a bald-headed and spiny-toothed Max Schreck). Stoker’s heirs successfully sued, and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed. The fact that some prints survived for posterity is a happy miracle, for Nosferatu is now regarded not just as a masterpiece of German Expressionism, but as the very template for the horror film genre. It is also the source of much vampire lore: the idea that the creatures are destroyed by exposure to sunlight derives solely from Nosferatu. The film’s enduring cult has spawned remakes and reimaginings, including Werner Herzog’s striking 1979 version starring Klaus Kinski, and the 2000 curiosity Shadow of the Vampire, a fictionalised account of the making of the original film in which the actor Max Schreck (here played by Willem Dafoe) is imagined to be an actual vampire. At the time of this exhibition, all eyes are on another big-budget remake of Nosferatu, this time written and directed by Robert Eggers, director of The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. Count Orlok is played by Bill Skarsgård, who has described the experience as ‘like conjuring pure evil.’ Due for release on Christmas Day 2024, the Robert Eggers take on Nosferatu is keenly anticipated.

Framed Dimensions: 310mm x 400mm

Charcoal and soft pastel on 220gsm Daler Rowney smooth paper
Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.