Arabian Nights Fantasy 

Curator: Here we have “Arabian Nights Fantasy”, a painting by Thomas Moran. Editor: Ah, a fever dream of sunlight! It’s like looking at Venice through a haze of spiced wine and daydreams. Curator: Moran, of course, is known for his sweeping landscapes of the American West, but he also traveled widely, and this work clearly demonstrates his fascination with the "Orient," reflecting the era's Orientalist interests. Editor: Right, but that aside, look at how the light almost dissolves the architecture! Everything shimmers. It's more about the *feeling* of a place than its actual bricks and mortar, wouldn't you agree? The oil paint seems impossibly fluid. Curator: Indeed. He’s less concerned with topographic accuracy than with evoking a certain atmosphere and employing techniques of academic art; it is a dance between reality and romantic vision, fueled by the contemporary obsession with exotic locales and romanticism. Note the influence in his stylistic decisions. Editor: I see that too. There is also the theatricality with which the composition frames the scene, as though staged for an elaborate performance! So what's "Arabian" about it, do you think, other than maybe a feeling? Curator: "Arabian" in this context signifies the generalized exoticism Western artists projected onto non-European places, a composite of North Africa, the Middle East, and sometimes even parts of Asia; it embodies a colonial gaze and speaks to the cultural dynamics of the period. These constructed visions were very popular in exhibitions during his time. Editor: Well, as long as we acknowledge that, I can get behind this particular fantasy. There’s a genuine longing in it, a reaching for something beyond the everyday that makes it all the more intriguing. Plus, the overall wash of golds and ochres is pretty spectacular. I'd happily spend an afternoon lost in that scene. Curator: It does capture a kind of idyllic escape, doesn't it? Editor: Exactly. Maybe that’s what art is, at its best – a beautiful, shimmering escape route.