When Islam’s final caliph, Abdulmecid II, was abruptly exiled by a nascent Turkish Republic, he was forced to abandon paintings he had made of palace intrigue, military campaigns and a dynasty in flux, leaving behind an unrivaled testament of the twilight years of the Ottoman Empire.

Those turbulent times and Abdulmecid’s artistic passions are presented together in “The Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdulmecid Efendi” at Istanbul’s Sakip Sabanci Museum. Part retrospective, part biography, the 60 artworks and 300 historical documents make up the most comprehensive exhibition to date about the Ottoman crown prince. 

“Abdulmecid Efendi’s life and work convey to us our history: a period of collapse, lost wars, a country under occupation and the proclamation of a republic,” said Nazan Olcer, the museum’s director and the show’s curator. “This exhibit looks at those pivotal events through the eyes of one its most notable witnesses.”

The museum spent more than two years gathering paintings, sketches, letters and photographs from state and private institutions and collections, as well as its own core collection. Researchers also conducted scientific analysis of a half-dozen paintings to uncover the materials, pigments and techniques Abdulmecid employed.