Bedouin at Prayer

about Bedouin at Prayer

This painting by Orientalist artist Rudolf Ernst depicts a Muslim man in quiet contemplation during prayer.

He kneels in solitude in the vast desert as the light fades around him. Many of the Orientalist artists never traveled to the locations they depicted, but rather used word-of-mouth stories, written accounts, and sketches and paintings made from those who had visited the Middle East as an inspiration for their work. Ernst is one of the few who did make regular trips. This era is hallmarked by the Western world fetishizing and portraying as savage in equal parts the cultures of the Middle East. For many in the United Kingdom and Europe, their only conceptions of life in the Middle East was shaped by these depictions of steamy bathhouses full of harems, lonely deserts crossed by Bedouins, mystical snake charmers, and gold-ornamented royals. This piece bears similarity to another work of Ernsts, likely created at a similar time, called "Praying in the Desert". This painting is nicely framed in a custom gold-leaf frame with text in Arabic around its perimeter.