Die schwüle Welt des Harems •

Abstract

In the 18th century, as political and economic relations with the East strengthened, and the first travelogues on Turkey and various other works on ethnological, geographical and cultural topics were published, a particularly positive reception of the Orient became widespread, originating from the southern and south-eastern Europe. As a result, the image of the threatening apocalyptic enemy, the “bloodhound”, was replaced by the stereotype of an attractive and exotic foreigner.The euphoric reception of Ottoman culture was initially manifested in the presentation of operas and Turkish feasts held in noble and royal courts, but was also exhibited in portraits of people in Turkish clothes, posing among oriental backdrops. Depictions of harems and odalisque (harem ladies) were important motifs of these paintings from the very start. At the beginning of the fashion of Orientalism, the theme of the harem, also known as Turquerie, appeared only in the circles of the highest aristocracy, as a spicy bit of its self-representation, but by the 19th century, the identification of harem and erotica and, in many cases, harem and open sexuality, had become widespread in European fine arts.In my study, I aim to review briefly the appearances of the motif of the harem in literature and the fine arts, as well as the literary and cultural historical development of its erotic connotations, and offer its interpretation in a Central European context.