The happy smoker

Description of the artwork

The theme of the hookah smoker has inspired many Orientalist artists. Under Carl Haag's brush, it is depicted as a moment of relaxation and rest, without artifice. A guard sits with a cup of coffee in one hand and the end of his hookah in the other, exhaling smoke through his half-open lips. In front of him, on a small Ottoman table, the coffee set is laid out. Thanks to his impressive mastery of watercolour, the painter manages to share this moment of rest with his model, a moment of truth. In 1893, the year this work was created, the artist had already been a member of the prestigious Royal Watercolour Society for nearly 40 years. Haag was fond of depicting expressive faces, a characteristic that often gave his watercolours their titles, such as Young Man with a Proud Air or Alert, both of which are in private collections. Here, he has written “Kieff yaoos!” above his signature. Carl Haag was a painter at the court of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and this watercolour was part of the Duke's former collection.

Origin

Former collection of Duke of Saxe Coburg-Gotha, 1893