Max Beckmann an Patrick J. Kelleher, 8. Dez 1950, Schreibmaschinenschrift: »[Hotel Lobby] is one of the first paintings I did here in New York after having moved from St. Louis. I was quite often and much engaged studying people in Cafes and Hotel Lobbys. Maybe in New York an even stranger impression took place on this subject. After my work I often take a [recovery cocktail] at the Plaza Hotel. Many people from New York and out-of-town as well strangers pass along there, so that of these and other impressions my ideas took shape in the painting. I think also it isn't a bad picture, as it contains a certain part of my work in a relative close form.«