Cafe L'Avenue 1932

Palmer Hayden created "Cafe L'Avenue" with watercolor on paper. The strokes seem tentative, like he's feeling his way through this quiet scene, a portrait of thought. I imagine Hayden soaking his brush, touching it to the paper, letting the pigment bloom. What’s on his mind as he captures the weight of the man's head in his hand, the melancholic air hanging thick as smoke? Maybe he's thinking of other painters, like Degas, who captured those late night scenes in bars. The face is soft with watercolors. It’s hard to get that watery effect right, to stop it from feeling wishy washy. You can see it in the eyes, the delicate wash that gives them that faraway look. I get the sense of a community of artists all bouncing off of each other. Like, what if the man has stopped by the cafe after seeing the Fauves exhibition in Paris? That’s the magic of painting—it's a space where everything's alive and up for grabs. It's not about nailing down one meaning but embracing the endless conversation that painting invites.