The Artist and his Companions travelling in the Desert 1843

Editor: This is Horace Vernet’s "The Artist and his Companions travelling in the Desert" from 1843, made with oil paint. It gives me a very strong feeling of journey and exploration. How do you interpret this work? Curator: As a materialist, I see this work embedded in a web of colonial production. The very pigment of that oil paint, the canvas it's applied to, were goods often acquired and distributed through exploitative trade networks of the 19th century. Editor: So, you're suggesting the material components are not just neutral artistic tools, but reflective of broader power dynamics? Curator: Exactly. Look closer. Vernet himself, as a European artist traveling with armed companions in the desert, is participating in the act of 'collecting' experience and 'consuming' the exotic for a European audience. How does this consumption influence his materials? How does his work reify a colonial worldview? Editor: That's a completely different way of seeing it than I initially had. The red clothing contrasts quite sharply with the dull sand, like a signal in this setting. Curator: That use of color could speak to the performative aspect of Vernet's travels. It calls into question what labor went into their vibrant clothing as a marker of social status. It’s also not hard to wonder, is the red perhaps a visual shout, announcing European presence and therefore colonial ambitions? Editor: This definitely gives me a lot to think about, especially concerning the ethics of representation and how art-making is entangled with these complicated historical factors. Thank you! Curator: Of course! It's about uncovering the layers of materiality and production behind the aesthetic surface.