Smoker with a cigarette-holder 1915 - 1916

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso made "Smoker with a cigarette-holder" with oil on canvas, and I reckon he was really feeling it. The painting’s got these shards of browns, yellows, and greens that kind of hover between a figure and an abstract puzzle. I imagine him, brush in hand, stepping back, squinting, maybe with a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, deciding where to lay down the next stroke. Did you see that squiggly red circle, near the center? It's like a little wink, a playful nudge in the midst of all this angular seriousness. It makes me think about Picasso and Braque, who were also breaking things apart and putting them back together in new ways during that time. But Souza-Cardoso has his own vibe, a kind of warmth that pulls you in. It feels like he’s saying, "Let's not take ourselves too seriously; let's play with what we see and how we see it." And isn’t that what painting is all about?