View of İstanbul

The artist, who incorporated the changing light of the sun during the day and the seasons into Venetian scenes, selected İstanbul, yet another city intertwined with the sea, as a subject for this particular work. Portraying a quiet village at the shores of the Bosphorus and the boats on the sea, the painting is dominated by the golden color of sunset. Ziem is deemed a particularly successful artist in terms of capturing the reflections of sunlight on the water. Recognizing this feature as Ziem’s forte, Théophile Gautier mentions the effects of the changing light of the sun –as part of the movement in the environment– reflecting on the water as “broken into a thousand fractions”. Although the work resembles a sketch with its relatively small size and unfinished look, all these characteristics are still evident in the painting. As in his other works, the figures have been transformed into a few color stains in this picturesque atmosphere.