When I first saw The Tortoise Trainer, I had no idea what it conveyed. Yet even without prior knowledge, we can interpret it through its details. The inscriptions on the wall, which I assumed to be Arabic, immediately caught my attention. Together with the old architectural interior, reminiscent of Ottoman design, this led me to conclude that the setting belonged to the Ottoman period. The blue walls suggest a special space, perhaps a palace interior or place of worship rather than an ordinary home, as such vivid colors were unlikely in domestic interiors of that era. Blue conveys coolness and tranquility; it evokes stillness rather than movement, aligning with spaces of contemplation or reverence. The geometric patterns appear meaningful rather than merely decorative, constructed through systematic repetition that recalls the intentional ornamentation of sacred or official spaces.
The absence of human or animal figures also suggests a deliberate choice, consistent with the avoidance of figuration in sacred and public contexts in Islamic art. The inscriptions, geometric forms, and vegetal motifs together place the interior within the Ottoman–Islamic cultural sphere. Although the setting evokes Ottoman–Islamic culture, the painting does not directly depict a religious event. Unlike dramatic Baroque works designed to convey explicit religious messages, this composition offers a more inward narrative. The focus is not a sacred scene but an aged man slightly bent forward, fully absorbed by the tortoises before him. The work seems more concerned with revealing an inner psychological state.
Because The Tortoise Trainer is such a valuable part of our society and an important piece of Turkish art history, I wanted to research both the painting and its artist, Osman Hamdi Bey. For much of my life, I approached knowledge in the mode Erich Fromm calls “having”—memorizing rather than understanding. In history classes, I knew only that Osman Hamdi Bey was an important figure for our society and that through his work he laid serious groundwork for the cultural infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey. It was one of the many pieces of information I memorized in order to receive good grades within the education system. Now, I strive to live in the mode of “being,” sharing what I genuinely engage with and understand. Along this path, I wish to share my thoughts and what I have learned with those who read my articles, with you.
This article begins a series exploring who Osman Hamdi Bey was and the psychological foundations that shaped him. How does a mind capable of such a painting emerge? How can one grow within Ottoman tradition, train in the West, and unite these worlds so calmly on a single canvas?
Osman Hamdi Bey was not only a painter but also an archaeologist, museum director, and intellectual figure in the modernization movements of his era. Born into a powerful Ottoman bureaucratic family, he grew up within a structure representing authority and tradition—both a social privilege and a psychological framework. Such an upbringing fosters an early internalization of rules, representation, and order. Over time, external authority gradually becomes internal authority. This background may have strengthened his inclination toward structure, control, and symbolic meaning. The calmness and patience in The Tortoise Trainer can be read as aesthetic reflections of this internalized order, as well as of the fusion between tradition and modernity.
However, this strong and orderly foundation began to shift when he moved to Paris. In 1860, Osman Hamdi Bey left the Ottoman Empire to study law, but during his time there he turned toward painting and received formal artistic training. In Paris, he entered an environment shaped by academic art and emerging modern ideas, where artists were encouraged to develop individual vision and style. Unlike the Ottoman bureaucratic tradition he had grown up within, this artistic world did not center on representing the state or preserving inherited structures. Instead, it emphasized personal interpretation and creative authorship. The individual became central, and art functioned as a space for intellectual and personal expression.
From a psychoanalytic viewpoint, such a transition can create a rupture in identity. The internalized sense of authority and order formed in childhood begins to be questioned within a new cultural environment. The question “Who am I?” becomes more pronounced. The bond with tradition does not disappear, but it ceases to be the sole reference point. The subject’s own desire and perspective come into play.
In Osman Hamdi Bey’s life, this collision of two worlds does not seem to have turned into a destructive rupture. Instead, it may have transformed into an internal negotiation. Neither a complete rejection of tradition in favor of Westernization nor a defensive closure that perceives modernity as a threat… Rather, an effort to hold two different orders together.
When I look again at The Tortoise Trainer, I see traces of this internal negotiation. The space is Ottoman; the figure is Ottoman; the inscriptions are Ottoman. Yet the composition, the figure’s solitude, and the psychological depth are closer to Western painting traditions. The painting does not choose a side. It places two worlds side by side without forcing them into conflict.
The fatigue in The Tortoise Trainer may not be read merely as the physical state of an old man. The figure may also be considered a symbolic reflection of Osman Hamdi Bey’s own cultural struggle. His attempt to bring the artistic understanding and modern thought he encountered in the West into his own society was, in fact, the outward expression of his effort to reconcile two identities within himself: the Ottoman tradition and Western modernity. This union likely involved resistance, misunderstanding, and slow transformation. The slowness of the tortoises and the figure’s patient yet slightly bent posture may evoke this long and arduous process.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, this can also be related to Freud’s concept of sublimation. Sublimation refers to the transformation of inner tension or conflict into cultural and creative production rather than expressing it in a destructive way. The cultural duality experienced by Osman Hamdi Bey seems not to have resulted in a repressed conflict but to have been redirected into productive domains such as art, museum work, and cultural institution-building. From this perspective, the fatigue in the painting may not signify defeat, but rather bear the trace of a tension carried throughout a lifetime and transformed in a creative way.
What if the man in the painting is truly Osman Hamdi Bey himself? Is he really training the tortoises, or is he the one being unknowingly disciplined by the very structure he seeks to change?