Pera Müzesi

Last month, I visited this art musem located in the toney Pera district of IIstanbul. I enjoyed its fine collection of paintings, many of them were Oriental in subject matter. In the permanent collection, I saw fine paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey («2 Musical Girls»)(«Tortoise Trainer»), Antoine de Favray, Fausto Zonaro («Daughter of English Ambassador Riding in Palaquin»), Georg Schroder, Louis Francois Cassas («View of Istanbul»), and the combination of Valentin Mueller, Hans Grimminger, and Franz Hermann («Harem»).I liked the temporary exhibit featuring Oriental subject matter by Polish painters which ends on January 18^th, 2015. I saw fine Polish paintings by Stanislaus Chlebowski («Guard of Mosque»), Josef Mehoffer («Portrait of Sculptor»), Jan Ciaglinski («View of Istanbul»), and Jan Matejko lent to the Pera by different Polish art museums. I liked their collection of Anatolian weights and scales, including one of Heracles. There was plenty of information in English as well as Turkish and the works of art were arranged in a very appealing manner.

Pera muzeum is located behind Odakule. It’s a little art museum, the thing I liked the most about this place is they bring so many different exhibitions from all the fields of art like modern, classic, traditional etc. Also they have tiny little café in entrance.

Hands down, my favorite museum in Istanbul. The floor plan is great, with a clean and understandable layout. The staff is friendly and don’t hover about while you are viewing. And their choice of exhibitions is a well rounded mix of contemporary and historical. There’s a superb relationship with a local Fine Art Univeristy, and a firm handle on Orientalist Art. It would be great to see more critical work in this regard.