Once Upon a Time There Was a Date Palm Tree… Matrix of Figures and Symbols

Abstract

The date palm tends to embody the pictorial amulet par excellence. Not endemic to Orientalist painting alone, it swarms and seeds the landscape, becoming a matrix of representations and symbols. The purpose of this article is to examine the way it is used and the dialectic it establishes in relation to other plastic signs. To do so, visual semiotics will focus on its pictorial process, in order to make the anonymity of the painting speak for itself