Cycling Replaced The Horses

After he gave up betting on the horses,
a friend, Mike Ward, told him about
the excitement of cycling. Hemingway
became a huge fan of the indoor and
outdoor cycle races and the motorcycle
races. He tried to write many stories
about cycling, but said it could only be
written about properly in French.

Hadley's Birthday Present

A photo of Joan Miro taken by Man Ray, then "The Farm" by Miro.
Hemingway and several friends
raised the 5000 francs to buy it
for Hadley's 34th birthday (1925).
A detailed description of "The Farm" & a larger image of the painting can be found at The National Gallery of Art.
(This is a PDF file.)

At The Track

Gare du Nord Station

Ernest and Hadley used to go to the horse track at Auteuil to relax and possibly make some money. They would leave from the Gare du Nord train station and go "through the dirtiest and saddest part of town and walked from the siding to the oasis of the track." They enjoyed that patch of greenery that the track provided just outside the middle of urban Paris.
Ernest found it to be hard work, as he put it; learning about the horses, the odds, jockeys, owners and track conditions. Hadley would bet on the long shots, with little study, and often with good results.
Eventually, Hemingway found that he was spending too much time and money at the track and gave it up as a bad habit. The End of an Avocation, is the name of the chapter in "A Moveable Feast."

Hemingway Loved Cezanne's Work

The Players by Cezanne.
Hemingway commented frequently on how hunger sharpened his senses. So he would go nearly every day to the Musee du Luxembourg when he couldn't afford to eat to better appreciate the Cezannes.
In "A Moveable Feast", he said he was learning something from the Cezannes that made writing simple true sentences far from enough to make the stories have the dimensions he was tring to put into them. He said he was learning very much, though, from the Cezannes.

The Dome Again

Two more photographs of The Dome, (the second is a 1930s photograph).
Shortly after the Hemingways returned to Paris from Toronto in 1924, The Dome was reopened after extensive renovations. Instead of dingy walls and scarred furniture, red and gold awnings, mirrors, bright lights and even signs in English appeared.
The Paris Tibune said:
"The famous cafe which has been the rendezvous of American Bohemians in Paris for the past thirty years is now up-to-date, modern, shiny, and completely equipped as the bath room of an American "Babbitt"...Patron Chambon has chosen red as the basic color of his scheme: red flowers, red woodwork, red benches, and last and most apparent, red wall-paper with a wriggling design that needs only a little imagination to look like snakes. Green palms here and there make the red more red and the total effect is multiplied many times over by plate glass mirrors which take up all the space not occupied by red."

A Canal And Bridge In Paris

Hemingway liked to walk the banks of the Seine and the canals of Paris. He watched the barges and tugs that had smokestacks that could be lowered to pass under the bridges.
The first painting is of barges on the Saint Martin Canal in Paris.
The second is a 1920 painting by the Georgian artist Lado Gudiashvil.
The third illustration is a vintage postcard from Paris in the 1920s. It was taken at what was called, Le Port Saint-Nicolas, or Saint Nicholas Harbor, on the Seine. The location is now called, the "Port du Louvre."
The last is Van Gogh's, "Quay With Men Unloading Sand Barges."

A Glimpse of Gertrude Stein

In the bottom photo: Gertrude Stein - on the right - with companion, Alice B. Toklas.
Her apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus was a Mecca for young artists. Painters, poets, writers and sculptors sought out her advice and companionship. Her apartment became a "salon" on Saturday night, and attracted the avant garde. She seemed to have her finger on the pulse of all of the artists and expats. She was particularly good at spotting talented young painters. She would buy their paintings at bargain prices - invest in them - and wait until the paintings became valuable. She helped the new artists and herself this way.
She got along well with Hemingway in the early years, admiring his writing and his innocence in many areas of life in Paris.
He was fond of stopping by for the companionship, food, and a chance to look at her collection of paintings. In the winter it was also a nice warm spot to drop in on.
She seemed to know everyone worth knowing and had an opinion on most if not all.

This photo is by Man Ray.  Ms Stein is watching the sculptor Jo Davidson carve her "Buddha" statue in 1922.
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has a radio program called, "Great Lives." They recently did a program on Gertrude Stein's life:"Great Lives:Gertrude Stein"

Zelda Fitzgerald Meets Ernest at the Dingo Bar

Zelda Fitzgerald meets Hemingway outside of the Dingo Bar and restaurant in 1925.

The Dome Cafe

The Dome Cafe is mentioned several times in "A Moveable Feast."
"With Pascin at the Dome" is a humorous chapter. Ernest meets the painter Pascin there and two models who are sisters.
Hemingway has put in a good days work and is in a good mood. He has verbal volleys with the sisters and Pascin who is recounting his day with his models and trying to get Hemingway to join in the flirtations.

Shakespeare And Company Bookstore

Sylvia Beach was the proprietor of Shakespeare And Company, a bookstore and more in Hemingway's Paris.
It was a cultural center for artists and particularly the American expatriate community. Hemingway used the lending library that was a part of the bookstore and the "post office" where expats had their mail forwarded .
She also provided credit to Hemingway.

The shop was located at 12 rue de L'Odeon. It was recommended to Hemingway by Sherwood Anderson, and was frequented by James Joyce (in the three photos with Sylvia Beach), F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and many more memebers of the Paris art scene of the '20s.
In the first photo: James Joyce, Sylvia Beach, and Adrienne Monnier.

Hemingway liked to say that he was her best customer at the lending library.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Paris Years

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald and F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Fitzgeralds' Passport,
Then, F. Scott Fitzgerald by Harrison Fisher, National Portrait Gallery;
The Fitzgeralds In Their Paris Apartment,
and a portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald