Arabian sheikhs in the mountains 

Léon Bonnat made this painting of Arabian Sheikhs in the Mountains, likely in the late 19th century, using oil on canvas. The painting embodies the orientalist fascination with the Middle East, a region that was becoming both more accessible and more dominated by European colonial powers. Bonnat’s work perpetuates a romanticized vision of Arab culture. The figures are rendered with dignity, but also as exotic, reinforcing European ideas about the ‘other’. Compositionally, Bonnat references a longer Western tradition of depicting travelers in romantic landscapes, but in this case, it serves to emphasize the perceived timelessness and remoteness of the Arabian setting. The painting doesn't explicitly critique the institutions of art, but one can consider Bonnat's training in the French academy and his role as a teacher. This brings into question the kind of artistic perspectives that were being institutionalized and promoted. To gain a deeper understanding, scholars would need to explore travel literature and colonial documents of the time. This helps reveal the power dynamics inherent in the European gaze upon non-Western cultures.