Leaving the Oasis

A caravan winds along a dusty track at the close of day, the camels and their riders moving away from a shady oasis dotted with slender palms and a modest domed shrine. Overhead, the sky softens into pale blue washed with faint pink, while a small dog scampers ahead of the group, giving the whole scene a warm, lived-in feeling. The mood is unhurried and a bit dreamlike, as though we have stumbled upon these travelers during a calm stretch of a long trip.

Jean Léon Gérôme painted this work in 1871, and he ranks among the best known figures of Orientalism, a French style built around scenes of North Africa and the Middle East. Many European artists of the 1800s journeyed to these regions and painted what they found, mixing what they actually saw with a good dose of romantic fancy. Gérôme usually favored crisp, precise detail, but in "Leaving the Oasis" he loosens up, using hazy light and gentle, muted colors to carry the feeling instead of sharp outlines.

Worth keeping in mind is that pictures like this show the region filtered through a visitor's eyes, so they reveal how outsiders pictured these places as much as the places themselves. Still, the image carries a quiet sincerity, showing people and animals simply making their way onward to wherever the road takes them next.