Harem Paintings & Art

Art historians use the term "Orientalism" for the depiction of aspects of Middle Eastern and East Asian cultures (Eastern cultures) by European writers, designers and artists.  Orientalist painting, depicting more specifically "the Middle East" was one of the many specializations of 19th-century Academic art, as music and literature of European countries took a similar interest in Oriental themes. 

My research found a wide array of art works depicting Harem life, paintings of Arabs, Berbers (Moors), Ottoman "Turks," and other societies and cultures in southern Europe, North Africa and West Asia.  While these depictions can be found in Medieval art, Renaissance, Baroque art, and modern art into the 21st century with the works of such masters as Boris Vallego, and Frank Frazetta, a significant portion are from the Orientalist movement.  Partly because of sexual themes of the classical base of the art movements of the 18th and 19th centuries Orientalism helped establish much of the western cultural images of harems and slavery.

My purpose with this page is to provide an overview sample of these works and artists. It is not intended to be comprehensive as there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of works created by Orientalist Movement artists. 

Many of the artworks I use to illustrate my other pages are also drawn from the Orientalist Movement.I try to provide attribution to the original artist, as much and accurately as possible and for copyrighted material remain within fair uses boundaries, even in those works that have been significantly modified.
 


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