• Home

French writer to spotlight Orient in Romantic era

For his lecture, Streiff has chosen three very different French representatives of the Romantic period — painter Eugene Delacroix, musician Hector Berlioz and writer Victor Hugo. Although they were all fascinated and influenced by Orentalism, the three actually deeply disliked each other.

'The Orient Seen by Romanticism' will concentrate on the period between 1830, when the "Battle of Hernani" took place (a cultural war led by Victor Hugo against the Classicists), and 1848, marked by the failure of 'Burgraves' (another theatre play by Hugo) and the end of the Romantic period.

During these years, dreams, ideas and images of present day Turkey, Middle East and North Africa were prevalent in the French cultural scene.

This was "inherited" from the Renaissance and Baroque periods and influenced by the French invasion and occupation of Egypt, which went on until 1801.

In order to support the French army and propaganda, the vision of Orient was quite brutal and even later artists like Delacroix painted themes such as war and destruction, human pathos, uncontrollable force and emotional extremes.

• UAE