Murals can brighten up and help define a neighborhood. Think of Marilyn Monroe’s face in Woodley Park, the cowboy in Adams Morgan, Bloomingdale’s boxer girl, or any number of other examples that dot the city. Now H Street NE has a memorable mural of its own.

Over the past few weeks, Smith Commons’ Managing Partner Miles Gray turned over a large west-facing outer wall to Baltimore-based street artist Gaia, who over the course of four days turned it into a mural he calls “The Dusk of H Street.” It features the body of a half-human, half-hen opening its jacket to reveal an Albert Bierstadt landscape painting of Yosemite.

According to Jennifer Motruk Loy, a spokeswoman for the restaurant, Gray had seen Gaia’s prior work in D.C. and Baltimore, and in February 2011 commissioned a painting of a large hand along a wall overlooking the restaurant’s outer patio. Gray had bigger hopes for the larger outer wall, and chose the image from a portfolio of Gaia’s work.

The work started on May 15 and wrapped up four days later, she said. “He rented a dolly lift, and just got to work. No grid was drawn on the wall—he only did a bit of projection of the Smith Commons logo, but otherwise, the whole mural was completed freehand, with outdoor acrylic paints, rollers and brushes, finished with spray paint.”

“Working with a street artist of GAIA’s notoriety was a really wonderful experience,” she said. “He was thrilled at the opportunity and really loved the idea of working on such a grand scale.”

In March, Gaia curated Open Walls Baltimore, a two-month-long street art exhibit that aimed to use mural to bring life to a rundown neighborhood.