A Woman with an Urn 

Gustave Boulanger painted 'A Woman with an Urn' in 1855. The exoticism of its subject matter exemplifies the French Orientalist painting of the nineteenth century, which drew inspiration from North Africa and the Middle East. Here, Boulanger has depicted a woman with a vacant gaze, drawing water from a fountain. Her ornate jewelry and embellished headdress, along with the urn itself, are all elements that would have connoted the ‘Orient’ for audiences back in France. But the Orient was a French fantasy, a confection created for domestic consumption in painting, literature, and the popular imagination. The politics of imagery here are complicated. France had begun colonizing Algeria in 1830, and was thus actively engaged in the domination of the region that it also fetishized for its aesthetic appeal. Orientalist painting should be understood as part of the cultural project of imperialism. To understand this painting better, we might research French colonial history and consider the socio-political context in which it was made. The art historian helps reveal how aesthetic tastes are so often bound up with cultural power.