Louis Pavel was an Estonian painter. From 1935 he studied at the Pallas Higher Art School, but his studies remained uncompleted due to the war. Before the end of the Second World War, he joined German armed units, and was later sent to a Soviet prison camp. He came back to Estonia in 1946. Starting anew as an artist was difficult, he could not get his work into exhibitions. Therefore, he also worked as a forester and a sailor.
He was the father of the poet Indrek Hirv, and the partner of the artist Helgi Hirv.