Following in the footsteps of famous Orientalists (explorers, painters, writers, travelers) in Europe... Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789), Richard Pococke (1704–1765), Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), Hermann Fürst Prückler-Muskau (1785–1871), Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774–1852), Karl May (1842–1912).
In a certain sense, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1747–1832) can also be included, whose motto, "He who knows himself and others will also recognize here: Orient and Occident can no longer be separated," remains relevant today.
In 2019, exactly 200 years after the publication of his West-Eastern Divan in 1819, the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn hosted a major Goethe exhibition, "Goethe. Transformation of the World," which also clearly highlighted his interest in the Orient. Images from the exhibition can be found below.
