The image of the other in titles pertaining to visual arts. References to painting

The term multiculturalism is very complex and implies, among other things, the ethnic and cultural differences that exist in a specific geographical area. Our aim is to investigate the way in which these differences are noticeable in paintings and are perceived in the context of the analysis of the titles of paintings. As a part of this approach, we have to consider first and foremost the relations between the linguistic sign and the visual one. Practically, the title sequence which sets apart a visual work from all the others functions as a personal name; it is a linguistic sign which, first of all, identifies and individualises so that further on, from the point of view of the communicative process, it establishes a contact with the public who is informed about the existence of a specific visual text. Our research aims to present a typology of the titles which evoke the image of the other in the field of painting. It is limited to the Romanian cultural area, given the fact that, starting with the 19th century, this topic is well illustrated. We find it interesting to address a series of titles of paintings containing ethnonyms, as they represent characteristic images of several ethnicities found in Romania: Jews, Tartars, Roma.