Odaliscă 

Here, we see Samuel Mutzner’s "Odaliscă," an oil painting, with an overriding feeling of warmth, generated primarily from the rich palette of reds and greens, and how they play off each other. Notice the subject matter of the painting itself, in which a woman reclines amidst lush foliage. Mutzner destabilizes traditional Orientalist themes by focusing on texture and color over idealized form. The heavy impasto and visible brushstrokes emphasize the materiality of paint, drawing attention away from narrative and towards the painting's surface. The woman is surrounded by nature and flowers, but it is the texture that gives the painting its essence. Mutzner is engaging with broader artistic concerns of the early 20th century, where artists were actively dismantling fixed meanings in art. The painting resists a singular interpretation, inviting ongoing dialogue.