The Interior Life of Walter Gay

I greatly admire the evocative paintings of Walter Gay, the expatriate American artist who lived and worked in France at the turn of the last century. He was known for his interior room views and unique ability to capture “the spirit of an empty room.” This week, by coincidence, I saw two of his pictures, one in California and one in New York. This made me reach for my copy of “A Charmed Couple: The Art and Life of Walter and Matilda Gay” by William Rieder. It is a good and beautiful read and serves as something of a catalog of his paintings.

Gay’s work is not regularly displayed in museums as it is often discounted as mere renderings. If they are only renderings, they are the most fantastic examples I have ever seen—much better than Photoshop composites we are used to seeing. I share here a few images from Reider’s book. I hope they inspire you, too.