Subway No. 3, Paris 1931

Alexander Raoul Stavenitz made this print, Subway No. 3, in Paris. He used dark blacks, which makes me feel the grit and the loneliness of the city. I feel a sense of calm in the man reading. Perhaps he is unaware of the noise and the crowds. Or maybe, the artist has found a place of refuge within it all. I can imagine Stavenitz on the train, trying to capture the feeling of being alone in a crowd. This piece feels connected to other artists who explored modern life, like Edward Hopper. I see Stavenitz as part of an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human in a rapidly changing world. The beauty of painting is that it embraces ambiguity. We all bring our own stories to it. What do you see?