Middle Eastern art
Levantine visual culture
Middle Eastern art encompasses the visual arts produced across Southwest Asia and North Africa, from ancient Mesopotamian and Persian works through Islamic calligraphy, geometric patterns, and architecture.
The tradition is notable for intricate tilework, arabesque designs, and—in Islamic contexts—the development of non-figural decoration due to religious restrictions on depicting living beings.
The museum's Middle Eastern art collection spans five millennia.
- Islamic artVisual culture of Muslim civilizations
- geometric patternsArrangements of regular shapes
- sacred geometrySymbolic patterns with spiritual significance
- carpet weavingTextile craft for floors
- henna designsPlant-dye body decoration
desert landscapes · courtyard gardens · tilework · blue tiles · arabesque · miniature painting · gold leaf · metalwork
- world artAfrican art, American art, Asian art, Chinese art, European art
- cultural artfolk art, indigenous art, tribal art, cultural artifacts, traditional crafts
Middle Eastern artWestern art
European visual heritage
European art · American art · Chinese art · Japanese art · Renaissance art
Middle Eastern artportraiture
Art of depicting people
Renaissance humanism · Greek sculpture · minimalist art · Scandinavian design · Japanese minimalism