Revisiting Halil Pasha

Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.

This week’s edition plays with time. We begin with Halil Pasha, the Ottoman painter who captured Istanbul’s fading imperial elegance at the turn of the 20th century. From there we step into another kind of nostalgia at Pano Wine Bar, the Beyoglu winehouse founded in 1898, where writers, artists and night owls have long gathered over wine and meze.

The journey then stretches outward. A book by Sakip Sabanci Museum revisits the image of Turks in the 17th century, and we return to the present with the numbers: how Europeans see Turkey today.

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Thanks for reading,

Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

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1. Leading the week: ‘By the Water’

Halil Pasha’s “Port of Cengelkoy.” (Courtesy of Pera Museum)

It takes a certain nerve to mount a major exhibition on Halil Pasha and promise surprise. He is, after all, one of the best-known names of the Ottoman military-painter generation — the master of Bosporus light and, in many art histories, the first Turkish impressionist.

Pera Museum’s new exhibition, “By the Water: The Life and Art of Halil Pasha,” does precisely that. Rather than reheating the familiar story, curator Ozlem Inay Erten went digging — into archives, sketchbooks and private collections — and the result is a painter who feels far less predictable.

“We redefine Halil Pasha not simply as an old master,” Erten said, “but as a modern figure who studied light like a scientist and believed deeply in the power of drawing.”

Spread across two floors of the museum, the exhibition brings together a wide spectrum of works from institutional and private collections alongside letters, photographs and sketchbooks that reconstruct the artist’s world. Highlights include the “Bostanci shore,” the 19th-century deserted version of the current hub; the elegant still life “Morning Coffee”; sketches prepared for The Carriage Affair; and the illustrated Brittany Diary, which traces his early experiments with painting outdoors.

Halil Pasha’s biography reads like a miniature history of Ottoman modernity. Born in Beylerbeyi, he grew up in a Bosporus yali where reflections on the water became an early visual laboratory. Trained at the Imperial School of Military Engineering, he later spent nearly a decade in Paris, studying in the atelier of Jean-Leon Gerome. In 1889, his portrait Madam X won a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle — one of the first international prizes awarded to an Ottoman Muslim painter.

A corner is devoted to re-creating the artist’s studio. (Courtesy of Pera Palas)

Among the exhibition’s quieter pleasures are archival materials from his teaching years, including letters exchanged with his student Hasan Vecih Bereketoglu. They reveal a meticulous teacher obsessed with drawing and discipline — a reminder that Halil Pasha was not only a painter of shimmering shores but also a mentor whose influence shaped the next generation of Turkish artists.

Date: Until Aug. 23

Location: Mesrutiyet Caddesi No:65, Beyoglu

Find more information here.

2. Word on the street: Pano Wine Bar

High ceilings, woodworks and unexpected wines. (Courtesy of Pano)

Founded in 1898 by Greek wine merchant Panayot Papadulos, Pano Wine Bar has watched Beyoglu change around it for more than a century. The winehouse still carries the atmosphere of old Pera with narrow wooden tables, walls layered with photographs and bottles, and the easy noise of conversation.

Over the decades, its clientele has ranged from writers and journalists to actors and musicians, many of whom treated Pano as an unofficial extension of the city’s editorial rooms. Wine is the point. Pano was among the early champions of Anatolian wines, well before the recent revival of local vineyards made them fashionable again.

The menu remains straightforward: stuffed vine leaves, shish, white cheese and anchovies in olive oil — dishes that accompany long conversations without intimidating the wallet.

Location: Huseyinaga Mahallesi, Hamalbasi Caddesi No:12/A Beyoglu

3. Istanbul diary

Ozer Toraman’s “Dreaming on Grass.” (Courtesy of Pi Artworks)

At Pi Artworks Istanbul, Ozer Toraman’s solo exhibition, “Silent Dialogue,” presents a new series of paintings alongside the artist’s first installation. Focused on quiet moments easily overlooked in daily life through light, color and carefully staged compositions. Until May 2.

At the Koc University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), the exhibition “All Phanar Is Here: Household, Neighborhood, Court and the City” highlights the political and cultural networks of the Phanariot Greeks from Istanbul’s Fener district to Wallachia and Moldavia, with rare books, images and maps, worth exploring in depth. On view until Jan. 24, 2027.

At Zilberman Istanbul, “Snowblind” marks the first Istanbul solo exhibition of Cepo (Nezir Akkul). Stark winter landscapes hover between figuration and abstraction, with roads, solitary trees and distant horizons emerging from vast snowy fields. Until April 22.

Hip-hop icon Kanye West will launch his European tour in Istanbul after an 11-year hiatus, performing at Ataturk Olympic Stadium on May 30. Tickets went on sale this week.