The harem fantasy in nineteenth-century Orientalist paintings

Abstract

This article examines Orientalist cultural production through an overview of the literature on Orientalist paintings produced by European artists in the nineteenth century. There is a particular emphasis on gender and sexuality, and the use of depictions of gender and sexuality to undergird the political project of colonialism. Furthermore, these historical depictions continue to provide the symbolic vernacular for contemporary representations of Muslims that have their own political uses in the era of the War on Terror. This overview illuminates the emergence of representations of Muslims in fine art for European audiences beginning in the twelfth century, and the changes those depictions undergo later on in the nineteenth century as the political relationship between “East” and “West” shifts. The piece also takes into account gender in relationship to the act of authoring these representations.