A Fideal Fae is in essence, a mermaid of old. Not an apple cheecked pudgy little cupid with a tail, but a Dark Goddess of the watery depths. She is a siren whose call leads men to their watery graves. A beautiful maiden with long hair adorned with lilies, which on closer inspection may also be strewn with choking vines. She is Ophelia sinking, The Lady of Shalott on her burial barge, a sea sprite, selkie, and mistress of the night waters. This page is here to provide a vision of what the mermaid was before she was simplified and made safe for us. A celebration of feminine evil in the form of drowning maidens and seductive water Goddesses.
The gallery has grown to include many other images of women from mythology, fairy tales and folklore. This was inspired from my love of the art itself and Bram Dijkstra's art book Idols of Perversity, and the long out of print Symbolist art book Dreamers of Decadence. Both long out of print I hope that this site will give you access to many of the artists and images found in these books.
"The fideal sings as she walks through the reeds, calling out to her next lover... leaving you down in the water's cold depths, eyes unseeing, weeds in your mouth."
~Brian Froud, Good Fairies/Bad Faeries
Drowning Maidens
Mermaids
Faeries
Listless Ladies
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