Otto Pilny was a Swiss painter working at the turn of the 20th century. Specializing in exoticized oil paintings of the Middle East, his work often features desert scenes and tableaux of Bedouin men and dancing women. Born on June 28, 1866 in the Czech Republic, he studied in Prague before living in Vienna and ultimately settling in Zürich. He first visited Egypt in 1875, where he remained for two years, traveling with the nomadic Bedouin tribes and painting scenes of evening entertainment. In 1889, he visited again and was this time was decorated with the order of the Medjidie, a knightly honor, by the King of Egypt, Abbas II. He died in Zürich, Switzerland on July 22, 1936