Odalisque 

Guillaume Seignac painted this oil painting, titled "Odalisque", sometime between 1870 and 1924. The image is of a woman, only partially clothed, peering out from behind a veil. The piece presents a view of orientalism from the perspective of Europe at the time. Seignac lived and worked in France, in a time of normalized colonialism. Looking at the artwork, we see a Western male gaze. It is through this lens that we can appreciate the ways in which the exotic "other" was viewed as both alluring and submissive. By studying the history of colonialism, and institutions such as the French academy, we can better understand the social conditions that shape artistic production. It is only through the detailed work of historians that we are able to understand the power dynamics present within the artistic interpretation.