Picasso and His 15 Versions of Les Femmes d’Alger
On November 1, 1954, the Algerian War of Independence began between France and its colonial subjects in Algeria. About a month later, Pablo Picasso...
Magda Michalska 11 December 2025
#orientalism
Masterpiece Story: The Tortoise Trainer by Osman Hamdi Bey
Osman Hamdi Bey’s The Tortoise Trainer shows an elderly man patiently working with a group of turtles. Drawing on his time in Paris and his...
Guest Author 13 October 2025
Eugène Delacroix in 10 Paintings: Poetry, Passion, and Power
Early 19th-century French art was a battle between cool, crisp, precisely observed Neoclassicism and Romanticism’s passion for emotion, drama,...
Catriona Miller 26 September 2025
Memoirs of India by Edwin Lord Weeks
Edwin Lord Weeks was a remarkable American painter and one of the most celebrated Orientalists of his time. He lived a coveted life of travel and...
Maya M. Tola 25 September 2025
An Orientalist from the Orient: Theodoros Rallis
Not every Orientalist painter journeyed to the Orient or the Levant to observe and interact with the socio-cultural fabric they intended to portray...
Erol Degirmenci 10 September 2025
Osman Hamdi: The First and Last Ottoman Orientalist
The first and last Orientalist painter of the Ottoman Empire is Osman Hamdi Bey. Born in modern-day Turkey, educated in Paris, and highly regarded as...
Irina Diana Calu 15 July 2025
Constructing Racism in Western Art – Hans Makart and the Case of Cleopatra
When Netflix cast Black actress Adele James as Cleopatra in a docu-series on the life of the famous Egyptian queen, the world went viral in a heated...
Kero Fichter 11 March 2025
Masterpiece Story: Cleopatra by Alexandre Cabanel
Queen Cleopatra is a popular subject today – as she was in the late 19th century. Alexandre Cabanel’s Cleopatra explores a single moment of her...
James W Singer 11 March 2025
Masterpiece Story: The Obsequies of an Egyptian Cat by John Weguelin
Here is a Masterpiece Story to honor our beloved cats. The Obsequies of an Egyptian Cat by John Weguelin presents an imaginative interpretation of an...
Alexandra Kiely 23 February 2025
Vasily Vereshchagin—Journey through India
Vasily Vereshchagin was a notable Russian soldier, artist, and writer from the 19th century. He was an outspoken critic of war who reformed the genre...
Maya M. Tola 21 October 2024
Orientalism – Quick Explanation
19th-century Europeans were fascinated by the Near East and North Africa. Everything began roughly around the time of the Napoleonic invasion of...
Magda Michalska 3 July 2024
The Orientalism of Eugène Delacroix – Beware of the Colors!
Eugène Delacroix was a French artist who was seen as the leader of the French Romantic school of art from the beginning of his career. 19th-century...
Zuzanna Stańska 3 July 2024
