A New Dawn 

Rudolf Ernst painted "A New Dawn" with oil on canvas, likely in the late 19th or early 20th century, during the height of what's often termed "Orientalism". The image presents an imagined, romanticized view of the Middle East. The setting is a dilapidated building, with an older man in traditional clothing and a young woman reclining on a rug. In the background we have the domes of a city, bathed in the light of dawn. Ernst, like many European artists of his time, never actually visited the places he depicted, and his images reflect European fantasies and stereotypes about the "Orient" as exotic, sensual, and timeless. This Orientalist trend was fueled by colonialism and trade, which brought Europeans into greater contact with the Middle East and North Africa. We can learn more about the cultural context in which the image was made by delving into archives, travel literature and early photography of the period. This helps us to understand how such images came to be produced, circulated, and consumed in Europe.