The Pera Museum in Istanbul will host a lecture examining the legacy of Ottoman modernization in painting through the work of artist Halil Pasha, as part of its ongoing exhibition “By the Water: The Life and Art of Halil Paşa.”

A general view of the exhibition “The Aesthetic Memory of Ottoman Modernization: The Art of Halil Paşa and the Artistic Milieu of the Period” at Pera Museum, Istanbul, Türkiye. (Photo courtesy of Pera Museum)

The talk, titled “The Aesthetic Memory of Ottoman Modernization: The Art of Halil Paşa and the Artistic Milieu of the Period” will take place Thursday, June 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the museum’s auditorium. Curator Özlem İnay Erten will speak at the event.

Organized alongside the exhibition presented by the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum, the program focuses on Halil Pasha, a pioneering figure in Ottoman painting and the conditions that shaped his artistic production. The exhibition “By the Water: The Life and Art of Halil Paşa” explores his life, work and creative environment.

A general view of the exhibition “The Aesthetic Memory of Ottoman Modernization: The Art of Halil Paşa and the Artistic Milieu of the Period” at Pera Museum, Istanbul, Türkiye. (Photo courtesy of Pera Museum)

The lecture will situate Halil Pasha’s work not only as a personal artistic journey, but also within broader shifts in ways of seeing and emerging aesthetic approaches during a period of cultural transformation. Erten is expected to trace the artist’s development across several stages of his life, including his training among military painters, academic studies in Paris, years spent in Egypt and his later career in the early Turkish Republic.

A general view of the exhibition “The Aesthetic Memory of Ottoman Modernization: The Art of Halil Paşa and the Artistic Milieu of the Period” at Pera Museum, Istanbul, Türkiye. (Photo courtesy of Pera Museum)

Halil Pasha’s practice of painting outdoors, his engagement with light and nature and his relationship to Impressionism will also be discussed. The talk will further examine his portrait and figure work, his role as an educator and his connections with intellectual circles.

The event aims to deepen engagement with the exhibition and offers an opportunity to revisit themes of art, identity, representation and Westernization through Halil Pasha’s work, spanning the late Ottoman Empire and the early Republican period.