Occident and crescent moon

An exhibition at the BOZAR Museum in Brussels looks at depictions of the Ottomans in Renaissance Art (c. 1540-1600). From Brussels the show will move to the Muzeum Narodowe in Krakow; it forms the focal point of the project »Ottomans & Europeans«, which is sponsored by the European Union and analyses five centuries of relations between these two great powers.

As a partner in this project the Kunsthistorisches Museum is sending important loans to both Brussels and Krakow, and has also put together a specially conceived itinerary entitled »Occident and Crescent Moon. The Ottomans in Renaissance Art«. From May 5th until October 26th, 2015 visitors are invited to explore our permanent collections to discover the manifold ways in which Western Renaissance artists responded to subject matters, motifs and stylistic influences from the Ottoman Empire, and the different evaluations of this great power expressed in these artworks.

A selection of around forty exemplary paintings, medals, Kunstkammer objets d’art and suits-of-armour reflect relations and exchanges between Central and Eastern Europe and the Islamic Orient, which were marked both by drawn-out wars and the West’s infatuation with all things oriental.