Fille à la cigarette 1933

Endre Rozsda painted "Fille à la cigarette," or "Girl with a cigarette," with oil on canvas. Rozsda was a Hungarian-French painter who lived through considerable social upheaval and artistic transformation in the 20th century, and this image captures the mood of the interwar period. The figure is a young woman who has a cigarette in her mouth as she rolls another one in her hands. The work's themes reflect the cultural shifts in Europe at that time. Note the subtle rebellion against traditional gender roles. The informal pose of the figure perhaps symbolizes a departure from the strictures of earlier eras. To fully understand this painting, one might delve into the history of tobacco use in Parisian society and, more broadly, explore the cultural associations between women and smoking, as well as the broader social and economic conditions of artists working in France at the time. These resources would give us a clearer idea of the work’s historical meaning.