ABSTRACT
In his book, The Tourist Gaze, the sociologist John Urry classifies tourist sites according to three dichotomies: whether they are an object of the romantic or collective tourist gaze; whether they are historical or modern; and whether they are presented as authentic or inauthentic. This chapter discusses the ways in which all three dichotomies are, metaphorically, present in pictures of Tunisia by foreign visitors. Painters of travel pictures can be considered tourists, though they may travel in search of inspiration. Travel pictures might therefore be understood as concrete proof of a more or less collective way of looking at other cultures. In Western imagery, Tunisia has frequently been bundled together with Morocco and Algeria, but the countries are all very different, geographically, politically, and culturally, and their popularity as travel destinations has changed over time. Despite this, the medina in Tunis remained one of the most remarkable in the Muslim world.
