Orientalist art refers to the works of mostly Western artists in the 19th century, who specialized in Oriental subjects, produced from their travels in the areas now known as the Near East, Middle East, and North Africa. As an art movement, Orientalist painting is generally treated as one of the many branches of 19th-century academic art.

Greatly influenced by artists’ direct experience of everyday life, Orientalist arts tapped into a growing fascination with travel and far-off, exotic lands. These paintings are characterized by patterns inspired by eastern textiles and architecture, studies of ethnic subjects, and exotic images of the Near East. Genre scenes are the norm reflecting everyday life - with subjects portrayed in routine activities or at leisure, depictions of military life, royal courts, harems, and the monarchy.