Through the exploration of Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting, The Slave Market (1867), this research paper will focus on the Orientalist Painting controversial theme, “the harem fantasy,” to show the relationship between the “exotic” possession of women on a foreign culture, and the Western patriarchal society during the nineteenth century. In order to support its argument, this paper will compare Gerome’s The Slave Market with other representations of the Orient. For instance, works of the Orientalist painter Edwin Long and Elisabeth Jerichau-Buaman will help to expose how Orientalist paintings were politicized, sexualized and gendered. At the end of this research paper, the reader will have a better understanding of how Orientalist painting during
