What is Orient

Orientalist art played an important role in the orientalist knowledge base. Depictions of the East, especially in the art of painting, have created a representation of the East in the West's mind. However, this representation is exactly what the Westerner wants to see. One of the subjects that Westerners want to see and hear most is the harem. In orientalist art, women are depicted here as if they were always standing naked for their masters. Whereas harem is a place of pleasure and delight for the West, it is a family institution for the East. There is a transition from orientalist paintings to cinema in harem representation. For this reason, this transition from painting to modern art needs to be read intertext. In this study, the reflection of the harem institution from painting to the cinema in the Ottoman Empire is examined. Ferzan Özpetek's movie Harem Suare (1999) was examined together with the paintings of orientalist painters, and intertextual reading was made.