The Metropolitan Museum of Art will spotlight 19th-century representations of the “East” in a major upcoming exhibition that also brings renewed international attention to Ottoman artist Osman Hamdi Bey.
Titled "Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy," the exhibition will run from June 12, 2026, to Feb. 28, 2027. It examines how images of the “Orient” were shaped through art, cultural encounters, colonialism, imperial expansion and modernization during the 19th century.
Organized through a collaboration between the museum’s Department of European Paintings and Department of Islamic Art, the exhibition marks the first time the institution has mounted a show centered specifically on Orientalism. It will bring together about 180 works, including paintings, drawings, photographs, books, architectural objects, weapons and armor, textiles, garments, glass, ceramics and metalwork.
Paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey on display at the Pera Museum. (Photo courtesy of Pera Museum)
The exhibition narrative begins with Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt and extends to works by Osman Hamdi Bey, positioning his art within broader European and Ottoman visual traditions of the period.
