73 / 182
This wonderful watercolor is one of Palmer Hayden’s most evocative paintings, particularly from
the latter part of his career.With its image of a reclining African mother and child sleeping below
the river scene, it has a dream-like quality.This aspect is described by Romare Bearden and Harry
Henderson in their
A History of African-American Artists
:“Hayden was often inspired by dreams.This
watercolor is a dream about black life on the Nile in the time of the pharaohs. Like much of his
work, it expresses his slyly ironic sense of humor.” Due to its inclusion in their book and in the
1976 landmark national exhibition
Two Centuries of Black American Art
organized by David C.
Driskell,
The Blue Nile
is one of Hayden’s best known paintings today - it also inspired a painting
by Robert Colescott. Bearden/Henderson pl. xxvi.
[35,000/50,000]