Of all the customs and traditions concerning the lives of oriental women, the harem is probably the most familiar and least understood in the West. Travelling artists, writers and poets let their imagination run unbridled upon this theme, to such an extent that in all the paintings from the early eigtheenth century to the 1940s, reality and imagination are closely intermingled. Beyond the theme of odalisques and almahs, this volume reflects upon the small pleasures of daily life, family and women's work. Over 150 Orientalist painters, both prestigious and less known, are brought together in this book as individual monographs. 183 colour illustrations