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Leaving the Oasis
About the Artwork
Leaving the Oasis repeats several themes in Gérôme's art—camel caravans, oases, and expansive desert landscapes. As an academic realist, Gérôme painted everyday scenes in a meticulous and polished style. Here he carefully rendered the unique forms of the figures' dress and the camels' physical features, as well as the colors of the changing sky and the violet shadows cast by the airborne dogs and the legs of the camels. Although the picture's smoothness and detail suggest a photographic image, Gérôme actually composed his paintings in the studio, basing them on memories and sketches from his visits to the Near East. Following his first trip to Egypt in 1856, he developed into a major figure among 19th-century "Orientalists"—artists who specialized in representing Near Eastern life, culture, and landscapes.
Inscriptions
Signed lower center right: j. l. gerome
Provenance
New York sale, Parke-Bernet, 25 April 1968 (lot 265, repr.). Los Angeles sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 27 May 1974 (lot 81, repr.). Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland. Given to the CMA in 1977.
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978). Animals as Romantic Icons in French Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 6-July 27, 1986). Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (organizer) (September 2-December 2, 2012).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824–1904)
- Date
- 1880s
- Medium
- oil on wood panel
- Dimensions
- Framed: 67.3 x 98.4 x 9.5 cm (26 1/2 x 38 3/4 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 50 x 81.2 cm (19 11/16 x 31 15/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin
- Accession no.
- 1977.126
More by Jean Léon Gérôme in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009956
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