Orientalism and the Romantic Movement
La Grande Odalisque (1814) Jean Dominque Ingres Orientalism is a term with a wide definition and is applied generally to denote the study and depiction of the ‘Orient’ by the ‘West’. The key term here is “by the West” as this is a main topic, the “western (male) gaze.” Most European experts on what was known as ‘The Orient’ had never actually been and the term can refer to anywhere East of Europe so it could include any imagined interpretation of Turkey, India, China, or Japan.In art, however, Orientalism is more commonly used specifically to refer to a style of painting that developed in the 19th Century and which depicted the region of the world now known as the Middle East: the regions of West Asia, North Africa, and the south-eastern tip of Europe. In the Napoleonic era of the early 19th century, the genre of Orientalism referred to a specific style of painting that depicted a region we now call the Middle East. Namely, West Asia, North Africa, and the most southern-eas...
