Seminude woman adjusting her veil

Chughtai's body of work included numerous images of women with exposed breasts, as illustrated in several paintings in this gallery. There is some indication that the artist intended this state of undress to reveal his subjects' heightened emotional states. Longing for their departed lovers, for instance, these women are envisioned by the artist as so despairing and distracted that they become careless of proper appearances. Chughtai also produced several fulllength nude or seminude studies of women such as this one that were considered daring by many viewers in his own time.