this was because the main goal was to capture the imagination of the european people. the harem was at the center of european sexual fantasies. naked and half-naked women in the harem were the subject of many orientalist paintings, but painters rarely ever got to see an actual harem. other popular images used by orientalist painters included mainly concubines and exotic landscapes. the orient was often eroticized, the muslim was presented as a violent and sexually perverted person, and the muslim woman was viewed as oppressed and enslaved by the muslim male. travel stories, literary works, and artistic works contributed strongly to create the image of a strange, different, exotic, and dangerous orient.