Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an

American realism American realism was a movement in art, music and literature that depicted contemporary social realities and the lives and everyday activities of ordinary people. The movement began in literature in the mid-19th century, and became an importan ...

painter and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in depicting modern American life and landscapes. Born in

Nyack, New York Nyack () is a Village (New York), village primarily located in the Town (New York), town of Orangetown, New York, Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, a small western section of the village lies in Clarkst ...

, to a middle-class family, Hopper's early interest in art was supported by his parents. He studied at the New York School of Art under

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design. ...

and

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

, where he developed a signature style characterized by its emphasis on solitude, light, and shadow. Hopper's work, spanning oil paintings, watercolors, and

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

s, predominantly explores themes of loneliness and isolation within American urban and rural settings. His most famous painting, '' Nighthawks'' (1942), exemplifies his focus on quiet, introspective scenes from everyday life. Though his career advanced slowly, Hopper achieved recognition by the 1920s, with his works featured in major American museums. Hopper's technique, marked by a composition of form and use of light to evoke mood, has been influential in the art world and popular culture. His paintings, often set in the architectural landscapes of New York or the serene environments of

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, convey a sense of narrative depth and emotional resonance, making him a pivotal figure in American Realism. Hopper created subdued drama out of commonplace subjects layered with a poetic meaning, inviting narrative interpretations. He was praised for "complete verity" in the America he portrayed. In 1924, Hopper married fellow artist Josephine Nivison, who played a significant role in managing his career and modeling for many of his works. The couple lived modestly in New York City and spent summers in

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

, which influenced much of Hopper's later art. Despite critical acclaim, Hopper remained private and introspective, dedicated to exploring the subtleties of human experience and the American landscape. His depiction of American life, with its emphasis on isolation and contemplation, remains a defining aspect of his appeal and significance in the history of American art.

Biography

Early life

Hopper was born in 1882 in

, a yacht-building center on the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

north of New York City. He was one of two children of a comfortably well-off family. His parents, of mostly Dutch ancestry, were Elizabeth Griffiths Smith and Garret Henry Hopper, a dry-goods merchant. Although not as successful as his forebears, Garret provided well for his two children with considerable help from his wife's inheritance. He retired at age forty-nine. Edward and his sister, Marion, attended both private and public schools. They were raised in a strict

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

home. His father had a mild nature, and the household was dominated by women: Hopper's mother, grandmother, sister, and maid. His birthplace and boyhood home was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2000. It is now operated as the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center, serving as a nonprofit community cultural center featuring exhibitions, workshops, lectures, performances, and special events. Hopper was a good student in grade school, and by the time he was five his talent with drawing was already apparent. He readily absorbed his father's intellectual tendencies and love of French and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

cultures. He also demonstrated his mother's artistic heritage. Hopper's parents encouraged his art and kept him amply supplied with materials, instructional magazines, and illustrated books. Hopper first began signing and dating his drawings at the age of 10. Among the earliest of these drawings are charcoal sketches of geometric shapes, a vase, bowl, cup, and boxes. The detailed examination of light and shadow that continued throughout his career is already visible in these early works. By his teens, he was working in pen-and-ink, charcoal, watercolor, and oil—drawing from nature while also making political cartoons. In 1895, he created his first signed oil painting, ''Rowboat in Rocky Cove'', which he copied from a reproduction in ''The Art Interchange'', a popular journal for amateur artists. Hopper's other earliest oils, such as ''Old ice pond at Nyack'' and his c.1898 painting ''Ships,'' have been identified as copies of paintings by artists including

Bruce Crane Robert Bruce Crane (October 17, 1857CRAIG, (Robert) Bruce
in ''

Edward Moran. In his early self-portraits, Hopper tended to represent himself as skinny, ungraceful, and homely. Though a tall and quiet teenager, his prankish sense of humor found outlet in his art, sometimes in depictions of immigrants or of women dominating men in comical situations. Later in life, he mostly depicted women as the figures in his paintings. In high school (he graduated from Nyack High School in 1899), he carved wooden models of sailboats and barges and dreamed of becoming a

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture by occupation Design occupations Occupations Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's rol ...

, but after graduation declared his intention to pursue a career in art. Hopper's parents insisted that he study commercial art to have a reliable means of income. In developing his self-image and individualistic philosophy of life, Hopper was influenced by the writings of

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

. He later said, "I admire him greatly...I read him over and over again." Hopper began art studies with a correspondence course in 1899. Soon he transferred to the New York School of Art and Design, the forerunner of

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

. There, he studied for six years with teachers including

, who instructed him in oil painting. Early on, Hopper modeled his style after Chase and French Impressionist masters

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

and

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

. Sketching from live models, however, proved challenging and somewhat shocking for the conservatively raised Hopper. Another of his teachers, artist

, taught life class. Henri encouraged his students to use their art to "make a stir in the world." He also advised his students, "It isn't the subject that counts but what you feel about it" and "Forget about art and paint pictures of what interests you in life." In this manner, Henri influenced Hopper, as well as future artists

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

and

Rockwell Kent Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager. Biography Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York. Kent was of English American, English descent. ...

. He encouraged them to imbue their work with a modern spirit. Some artists in Henri's circle, including

John Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight (Ashcan School), T ...

, became members of "The Eight", also known as the

Ashcan School The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, was an artistic movement in the United States during the late 19th-early 20th century that produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city's poorer neighborhoods. T ...

American Art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...

. Hopper's first surviving oil painting to hint at his use of interiors as a theme was ''Solitary Figure in a Theater'' (c.1904). During his student years, he also painted dozens of nudes, still life studies, landscapes, and portraits, including self-portraits. In 1905, Hopper landed a part-time job with an advertising agency, where he created cover designs for trade magazines. Hopper came to detest illustration. He was bound to it by economic necessity until the mid-1920s. He temporarily escaped by making three trips to Europe, each centered in Paris, ostensibly to study its art scene. In fact, he mostly worked alone and seemed mostly unaffected by the new currents in art. Later, he said he didn't "remember hearing of

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

at all". He was highly impressed by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, particularly his '' Night Watch'', which he said was "the most wonderful thing of his I have seen; it's past belief in its reality." Hopper began painting urban and architectural scenes in a dark palette. Then he shifted to the lighter shades of the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

before returning to the darker palette, with which he was most comfortable. He later said, "I got over that and later things done in Paris were more the kind of things I do now." Hopper spent much of his time drawing street and café scenes, and going to the theater and opera. Unlike many of his contemporaries who imitated the abstract

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

experiments, Hopper was attracted to realist art. Later, he claimed few European influences other than

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

and the French engraver Charles Meryon whose moody Paris scenes Hopper imitated.

Years of struggle

After returning from his last European trip, Hopper rented a studio in New York City, where he struggled to define his own style. Reluctantly, he returned to illustration to support himself. Being a freelancer, Hopper was forced to solicit for projects, and had to knock on the doors of magazine and agency offices to find business. His painting languished: "it's hard for me to decide what I want to paint. I go for months without finding it sometimes. It comes slowly." His fellow illustrator Walter Tittle described Hopper's depressed emotional state in sharper terms, seeing his friend "suffering...from long periods of unconquerable inertia, sitting for days at a time before his easel in helpless unhappiness, unable to raise a hand to break the spell." From February 22 to March 5, 1912, he was included in the exhibition of The Independents, a group of artists at the initiative of

but did not make any sales. In 1912, Hopper traveled to

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

, to seek some inspiration and made his first outdoor paintings in America. He painted ''Squam Light'', the first of many lighthouse paintings to come. In 1913, at the

Armory Show The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by thAssociation of American Painters and Sculptors It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibition ...

, Hopper earned $250 when he sold his first painting, ''Sailing'' (1911), to an American businessman Thomas F. Vietor, which he had painted over an earlier self-portrait. Hopper was thirty-one, and although he hoped his first sale would lead to others in short order, his career would not catch on for many more years. He continued to participate in group exhibitions at smaller venues, such as the

MacDowell Club The MacDowell Clubs in the United States were established at the turn of the twentieth century to honor internationally recognized American composer Edward MacDowell. They became part of a broader social movement to promote music and other art forms ...

of New York. Shortly after his father's death that same year, Hopper moved to the 3 Washington Square North apartment in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

section of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, where he would live for the rest of his life. Edward Hopper - Night Shadows - Oct 1922 Shadowland

The following year, he received a commission to create some movie posters and handle publicity for a movie company. Although he did not like the illustration work, Hopper was a lifelong devotee of the cinema and the theatre, both of which he treated as subjects for his paintings. Each form influenced his compositional methods. At an impasse over his oil paintings, in 1915 Hopper turned to etching. By 1923 he had produced most of his approximately 70 works in this medium, many of urban scenes of both Paris and New York. He also produced some posters for the war effort, as well as continuing with occasional commercial projects. When he could, Hopper did some outdoor oil paintings on visits to New England, especially at the art colonies at Ogunquit, and Monhegan Island. During the early 1920s his etchings began to receive public recognition. They expressed some of his later themes, as in ''Night on the El Train'' (couples in silence), ''Evening Wind'' (solitary female), and ''The Catboat'' (simple nautical scene). Two notable oil paintings of this time were ''New York Interior'' (1921) and ''New York Restaurant'' (1922). He also painted two of his many "window" paintings to come: '' Girl at Sewing Machine'' and ''Moonlight Interior'', both of which show a figure (clothed or nude) near a window of an apartment viewed as gazing out or from the point of view from the outside looking in. Smash The Hun - Dry Dock Dial cover

Although these were frustrating years, Hopper gained some recognition. In 1918, Hopper was awarded the U.S. Shipping Board Prize for his war poster, ''Smash the Hun''. He participated in three exhibitions: in 1917 with the Society of Independent Artists, in January 1920 (a one-man exhibition at the Whitney Studio Club, which was the precursor to the Whitney Museum), and in 1922 (again with the Whitney Studio Club). In 1923, Hopper received two awards for his etchings: the Logan Prize from the Chicago Society of Etchers, and the W. A. Bryan Prize.

Marriage and breakthrough

By 1923, Hopper's slow climb finally produced a breakthrough. He re-encountered Josephine Nivison, an artist and former student of

, during a summer painting trip in Gloucester, Massachusetts. They were opposites: she was short, open, gregarious, sociable, and liberal, while he was tall, secretive, shy, quiet, introspective, and conservative. With Jo's encouragement, Hopper turned to the medium of watercolor, producing numerous scenes of Gloucester. They married a year later with artist Guy Pène du Bois as their best man. Nivison once remarked: "Sometimes talking to Eddie is just like dropping a stone in a well, except that it doesn't thump when it hits bottom." She subordinated her career to his and shared his reclusive lifestyle. The rest of their lives revolved around their spare walk-up apartment in the city and their summers in South Truro on

. She managed his career and his interviews, was his primary model, and was his life companion. With Nivison's help, six of Hopper's Gloucester watercolors were admitted to an exhibit at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

in 1923. One of them, ''The Mansard Roof'', was purchased by the museum for its permanent collection for the sum of $100. The critics generally raved about his work; one stated, "What vitality, force and directness! Observe what can be done with the homeliest subject." Hopper sold all his watercolors at a one-man show the following year and finally decided to put illustration behind him. The artist had demonstrated his ability to transfer his attraction to Parisian architecture to American urban and rural architecture. According to

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

curator Carol Troyen, "Hopper really liked the way these houses, with their

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

s and

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

s and

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

es and

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

s and ornament cast wonderful shadows. Hopper always said that his favorite thing was painting sunlight on the side of a house." At forty-one, Hopper received further recognition for his work. He continued to harbor bitterness about his career, later turning down appearances and awards. With his financial stability secured by steady sales, Hopper would live a simple, stable life and continue creating art in his personal style for four more decades. His ''Two on the Aisle'' (1927) sold for a personal record $1,500, enabling Hopper to purchase an automobile, which he used to make field trips to remote areas of New England. In 1929, he produced '' Chop Suey'' and ''Railroad Sunset''. The following year, art patron Stephen Clark donated '' House by the Railroad'' (1925) to the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, the first oil painting that it acquired for its collection. Hopper painted his last self-portrait in oil around 1930. Although Josephine posed for many of his paintings, she sat for only one formal oil portrait by her husband, ''Jo Painting'' (1936). Hopper fared better than many other artists during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. His stature took a sharp rise in 1931 when major museums, including the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

and the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, paid thousands of dollars for his works. He sold 30 paintings that year, including 13 watercolors. The following year he participated in the first Whitney Annual, and he continued to exhibit in every annual at the museum for the rest of his life. In 1933, the Museum of Modern Art gave Hopper his first large-scale retrospective. In 1930, the Hoppers rented a cottage in South Truro, on Cape Cod. They returned every summer for the rest of their lives, building a summer house there in 1934. From there, they would take driving trips into other areas when Hopper needed to search for fresh material to paint. In the summers of 1937 and 1938, the couple spent extended sojourns on Wagon Wheels Farm in South Royalton, Vermont, where Hopper painted a series of watercolors along the White River. These scenes are atypical among Hopper's mature works, as most are "pure" landscapes, devoid of architecture or human figures. ''First Branch of the White River'' (1938), now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is the best-known of Hopper's Vermont landscapes. Newyork-movie-edward-hopper-1939

Hopper was very productive through the 1930s and early 1940s, producing among many important works '' New York Movie'' (1939), ''Girlie Show'' (1941), '' Nighthawks'' (1942), '' Hotel Lobby'' (1943), and ''Morning in a City'' (1944). During the late 1940s, however, he suffered a period of relative inactivity. He admitted: "I wish I could paint more. I get sick of reading and going to the movies." During the next two decades, his health faltered, and he had several prostate surgeries and other medical problems. But, in the 1950s and early 1960s, he created several more major works, including ''First Row Orchestra'' (1951); as well as ''Morning Sun'' and '' Hotel by a Railroad'', both in 1952; and ''

Intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a break between parts of a performance or production, such as for a play (theatre), theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with ...

'' in 1963. In 1966, Hopper was awarded The

Edward MacDowell Medal The Edward MacDowell Medal is an award which has been given since 1960 to one person annually who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. It is given by MacDowell, the first artist residency program in the United St ...

by The MacDowell Colony for outstanding contributions to American culture.

Death

Hopper died of natural causes in his studio near Washington Square in New York City on May 15, 1967. He was buried two days later in the family plot at Oak Hill Cemetery in Nyack, New York, his place of birth. His wife died ten months later and is buried with him. Edward Hopper's wife, Josephine, bequeathed their joint collection of over three thousand pieces to the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

. Arthayer Sanborn, a Baptist minister who frequently visited their home to care for Edward's sister, Marion, came into possession of three hundred Hopper drawings and paintings. Art historian Gail Levin has highlighted that whereas the Whitney Museum has extensive documentation of how Josephine distributed their couple's pieces, paintings acquired from Sanborn lack

provenance Provenance () is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including archaeology, p ...

proving the family willingly gifted the trove of pieces Sanborn reported finding in their attic. The

in New York,

Des Moines Art Center The Des Moines Art Center is an art museum with an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, modern art and mixed media. It was established in 1948 in Des Moines, Iowa. History The Art Center traces its roots to 1916, when the Des Moines A ...

, and

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

all have significant collections of Hopper paintings.

Art

Personality and vision

Always reluctant to discuss himself and his art, Hopper simply said, "The whole answer is there on the canvas." Hopper was stoic and fatalistic—a quiet introverted man with a gentle sense of humor and a frank manner. Hopper was someone drawn to an emblematic, anti-narrative

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

, who "painted short isolated moments of configuration, saturated with suggestion". His silent spaces and uneasy encounters "touch us where we are most vulnerable", and have "a suggestion of melancholy, that melancholy being enacted". His sense of color revealed him as a pure painter, as he "turned the

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

into the purist, in his quiet canvasses where blemishes and blessings balance". According to critic Lloyd Goodrich, he was "an eminently native painter, who more than any other was getting more of the quality of America into his canvases". Conservative in politics and social matters (Hopper asserted for example that "artists' lives should be written by people very close to them"), he accepted things as they were and displayed a lack of idealism. Cultured and sophisticated, he was well-read, and many of his paintings show figures reading. He was generally good company and unperturbed by silences, though sometimes taciturn, grumpy, or detached. He was always serious about his art and the art of others, and when asked would return frank opinions. Hopper's most systematic declaration of his philosophy as an artist was given in a handwritten note, titled "Statement", submitted in 1953 to the journal ''Reality'': Though Hopper claimed that he didn't consciously embed psychological meaning in his paintings, he was deeply interested in

Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...

and the power of the subconscious mind. He wrote in 1939: "So much of every art is an expression of the subconscious that it seems to me most of all the important qualities are put there unconsciously, and little of importance by the conscious intellect."

Methods

Although he is best known for his oil paintings, Hopper initially achieved recognition for his watercolors, and he also produced some commercially successful etchings. Additionally, his notebooks contain high-quality pen and pencil sketches, which were never meant for public viewing. Hopper paid particular attention to geometrical design and the careful placement of human figures in proper balance with their environment. He was a slow and methodical artist; as he wrote, "It takes a long time for an idea to strike. Then I have to think about it for a long time. I don't start painting until I have it all worked out in my mind. I'm all right when I get to the easel". He often made preparatory sketches to work out his carefully calculated compositions. He and his wife kept a detailed ledger of their works noting such items as "sad face of woman unlit", "electric light from ceiling", and "thighs cooler". For ''New York Movie'' (1939), Hopper demonstrated his thorough preparation with more than 53 sketches of the theater interior and the figure of the pensive usherette. The effective use of light and shadow to create mood is also central to Hopper's methods. Bright sunlight (as an emblem of insight or revelation), and the shadows it casts, play symbolically powerful roles in Hopper paintings such as '' Early Sunday Morning'' (1930), ''Summertime'' (1943), ''Seven A.M.'' (1948), and '' Sun in an Empty Room'' (1963). His use of light and shadow effects has been compared to the cinematography of

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

. Although a realist painter, Hopper's "soft" realism simplified shapes and details. He used saturated color to heighten contrast and create mood.

Subjects and themes

Hopper derived his subject matter from two primary sources: the common features of American life (such as gas stations, motels, restaurants, theaters, railroads, and street scenes) and their inhabitants; and seascapes and rural landscapes. Regarding his style, Hopper defined himself as "an amalgam of many races" and not a member of any school, particularly the "

". Once Hopper achieved his mature style, his art remained consistent and self-contained, despite the numerous art trends that came and went during his long career. Hopper's seascapes fall into three main groups: pure landscapes of rocks, sea, and beach grass; lighthouses and farmhouses; and sailboats. Sometimes he combined these elements. Most of these paintings depict strong light and fair weather; he showed little interest in snow or rain scenes, or in seasonal color changes. He painted the majority of the pure seascapes between 1916 and 1919 on Monhegan Island. Hopper's ''The Long Leg'' (1935) is a nearly all-blue sailing picture with the simplest of elements, while his '' Ground Swell'' (1939) is more complex and depicts a group of youngsters out for a sail, a theme reminiscent of

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters of 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

's iconic ''

Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) ''Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)'' is an oil painting by American artist Winslow Homer. It depicts a catboat called the ''Gloucester'' chopping through that city's harbor under "a fair wind" (Homer's original title). Inside the boat are a man, three b ...

'' (1876). Urban architecture and cityscapes were also major subjects for Hopper. He was fascinated with the American urban scene, "our native architecture with its hideous beauty, its fantastic roofs, pseudo-gothic, French Mansard, Colonial, mongrel or what not, with eye-searing color or delicate harmonies of faded paint, shouldering one another along interminable streets that taper off into swamps or dump heaps." In 1925, he produced ''House by the Railroad''. This classic work depicts an isolated Victorian wood mansion, partly obscured by the raised embankment of a railroad. It marked Hopper's artistic maturity. Lloyd Goodrich praised the work as "one of the most poignant and desolating pieces of realism". The work is the first of a series of stark rural and urban scenes that use sharp lines and large shapes, played upon by unusual lighting to capture the lonely mood of his subjects. Although critics and viewers interpret meaning and mood in these cityscapes, Hopper insisted, "I was more interested in the sunlight on the buildings and on the figures than any symbolism." As if to prove the point, his late painting ''Sun in an Empty Room'' (1963) is a pure study of sunlight. Most of Hopper's figure paintings focus on the subtle interaction of human beings with their environment—carried out with solo figures, couples, or groups. His primary emotional themes are solitude, loneliness, regret, boredom, and resignation. He expresses these emotions in various environments, including the office, in public places, in apartments, on the road, or on vacation. As if he were creating stills for a movie or tableaux in a play, Hopper positioned his characters as if they were captured just before or just after the climax of a scene. Hopper's solitary figures are mostly women—dressed, semi-clad, and nude—often reading or looking out a window, or in the workplace. In the early 1920s, Hopper painted his first such images: ''Girl at Sewing Machine'' (1921), ''New York Interior'' (another woman sewing) (1921), and ''Moonlight Interior'' (a nude getting into bed) (1923). ''Automat'' (1927) and ''Hotel Room'' (1931), however, are more representative of his mature style, emphasizing solitude more overtly. As Hopper scholar Gail Levin wrote of ''Hotel Room'': Hopper's ''Room in New York'' (1932) and ''Cape Cod Evening'' (1939) are prime examples of his "couple" paintings. In the first, a young couple appear alienated and uncommunicative—he reading the newspaper while she idles by the piano. The viewer takes on the role of a voyeur, as if looking with a telescope through the window of the apartment to spy on the couple's lack of intimacy. In the latter painting, an older couple with little to say to each other are playing with their dog, whose own attention is drawn away from his masters. Hopper takes the couple theme to a more ambitious level with ''Excursion into Philosophy'' (1959). A middle-aged man sits dejectedly on the edge of a bed. Beside him lies an open book and a partially clad woman. A shaft of light illuminates the floor in front of him. Jo Hopper noted in their log book, " e open book is

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

, reread too late". Levin interprets the painting: In '' Office at Night'' (1940), another "couple" painting, Hopper creates a psychological puzzle. The painting shows a man focusing on his work papers, while nearby his attractive female secretary pulls a file. Several studies for the painting show how Hopper experimented with the positioning of the two figures, perhaps to heighten the

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

and the tension. Hopper presents the viewer with the possibilities that the man is either truly uninterested in the woman's appeal or that he is working hard to ignore her. Another interesting aspect of the painting is how Hopper employs three light sources, from a desk lamp, through a window and indirect light from above. Hopper went on to make several "office" pictures, but no others with a sensual undercurrent. Nighthawks by Edward Hopper 1942

The best-known of Hopper's paintings, '' Nighthawks'' (1942), is one of his paintings of groups. It shows customers sitting at the counter of an all-night diner. The shapes and diagonals are carefully constructed. The viewpoint is cinematic—from the sidewalk, as if the viewer were approaching the restaurant. The diner's harsh electric light sets it apart from the dark night outside, enhancing the mood and subtle emotion. As in many Hopper paintings, the interaction is minimal. The restaurant depicted was inspired by one in Greenwich Village. Both Hopper and his wife posed for the figures, and Jo Hopper gave the painting its title. The inspiration for the picture may have come from

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

's short story "

The Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...

", which Hopper greatly admired, or from the more philosophical "

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway, first published in ''Scribner's Magazine'' in 1933; it was also included in his collection ''Winner Take Nothing'' (1933). Plot synopsis Late at night, a deaf o ...

". The mood of the painting has sometimes been interpreted as an expression of wartime anxiety. In keeping with the title of his painting, Hopper later said, ''Nighthawks'' has more to do with the possibility of predators in the night than with loneliness. His second most recognizable painting after ''Nighthawks'' is another urban painting, '' Early Sunday Morning'' (originally called ''Seventh Avenue Shops''), which shows an empty street scene in sharp side light, with a fire hydrant and a

barber pole A barber's pole is a type of sign used by barbers to signify the place or shop where they perform their craft. The trade sign is, by a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes (often red and w ...

as stand-ins for human figures. Originally Hopper intended to put figures in the upstairs windows but left them empty to heighten the feeling of desolation. Hopper's rural

scenes, such as ''

Gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

'' (1940), are no less meaningful. ''Gas'' represents "a different, equally clean, well-lighted refuge ... ke topen for those in need as they navigate the night, traveling their own miles to go before they sleep." The work presents a fusion of several Hopper themes: the solitary figure, the melancholy of dusk, and the lonely road. Hopper's '' Rooms by the Sea'' (1951), shows an open door with a view of the ocean, without an apparent ladder or steps and no indication of a beach. After his student years, Hopper's nudes were all women. Unlike past artists who painted the female nude to glorify the female form and to highlight female eroticism, Hopper's nudes are solitary women who are psychologically exposed. One audacious exception is ''Girlie Show'' (1941), where a red-headed strip-tease queen strides confidently across a stage to the accompaniment of the musicians in the pit. ''Girlie Show'' was inspired by Hopper's visit to a

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

show a few days earlier. Hopper's wife, as usual, posed for him for the painting, and noted in her diary, "Ed beginning a new canvas—a burlesque queen doing a strip tease—and I posing without a stitch on in front of the stove—nothing but high heels in a lottery dance pose." Hopper's portraits and self-portraits were relatively few after his student years. Hopper did produce a commissioned "portrait" of a house, ''The MacArthurs' Home'' (1939), where he faithfully details the Victorian architecture of the home of actress

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and ...

. She reported later, "I guess I never met a more misanthropic, grumpy individual in my life." Hopper grumbled throughout the project and never again accepted a commission. Hopper also painted ''Portrait of Orleans'' (1950), a "portrait" of the Cape Cod town from its main street. Though very interested in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and

Mathew Brady Mathew B. Brady ( – January 15, 1896) was an American photographer. Known as one of the earliest and most famous photographers in American history, he is best known for his scenes of the American Civil War, Civil War. He studied under invento ...

's battlefield photographs, Hopper made only two historical paintings. Both depicted soldiers on their way to Gettysburg. Also rare among his themes are paintings showing action. The best example of an action painting is ''Bridle Path'' (1939), but Hopper's struggle with the proper anatomy of the horses may have discouraged him from similar attempts. Hopper's final oil painting, '' Two Comedians'' (1966), painted one year before his death, focuses on his love of the theater. Two French

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

actors, one male and one female, both dressed in bright white costumes, take their bow in front of a darkened stage. Jo Hopper confirmed that her husband intended the figures to suggest they are taking their life's last bows together as husband and wife. Hopper's paintings have often been seen by others as having a narrative or thematic content that the artist may not have intended. Much meaning can be added to a painting by its title, but the titles of Hopper's paintings were sometimes chosen by others, or were selected by Hopper and his wife in a way that makes it unclear whether they have any real connection with the artist's meaning. For example, Hopper once told an interviewer that he was "fond of '' Early Sunday Morning''... but it wasn't necessarily Sunday. That word was tacked on later by someone else." The tendency to read thematic or narrative content into Hopper's paintings, that Hopper had not intended, extended even to his wife. When Jo Hopper commented on the figure in ''Cape Cod Morning'' "It's a woman looking out to see if the weather's good enough to hang out her wash," Hopper retorted, "Did I say that? You're making it Norman Rockwell. From my point of view she's just looking out the window."

Place in American art

In focusing primarily on quiet moments, very rarely showing action, Hopper employed a form of realism adopted by another leading American realist,

Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist and one of the best-known American artists of the middle 20th century. Though he considered himself to be an "abstractionist," Wyeth was primarily a realis ...

, but Hopper's technique was completely different from Wyeth's hyper-detailed style. In league with some of his contemporaries, Hopper shared his urban sensibility with

and

but avoided their overt action and violence. Where Joseph Stella and

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 March 6, 1986) was an American Modernism, modernist painter and drafter, draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "M ...

glamorized the monumental structures of the city, Hopper reduced them to everyday geometrics and he depicted the pulse of the city as desolate and dangerous rather than "elegant or seductive". Charles Burchfield, whom Hopper admired and to whom he was compared, said of Hopper, "he achieves such a complete verity that you can read into his interpretations of houses and conceptions of New York life any human implications you wish." He also attributed Hopper's success to his "bold individualism. ... In him we have regained that sturdy American independence which

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...

gave us, but which for a time was lost." Hopper considered this a high compliment since he considered Eakins the greatest American painter. Hopper scholar Deborah Lyons writes, "Our own moments of revelation are often mirrored, transcendent, in his work. Once seen, Hopper's interpretations exist in our consciousness in tandem with our own experience. We forever see a certain type of house as a Hopper house, invested perhaps with a mystery that Hopper implanted in our own vision." Hopper's paintings highlight the seemingly mundane and typical scenes in our everyday life and give them cause for epiphany. In this way Hopper's art takes the gritty American landscape and lonely gas stations and creates within them a sense of beautiful anticipation. Although compared to his contemporary

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

in terms of subject matter, Hopper did not like the comparison. Hopper considered himself more subtle, less illustrative, and certainly not sentimental. Hopper also rejected comparisons with

Grant Wood Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891February 12, 1942) was an American artist and representative of Regionalism (art), Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for ''America ...

and Thomas Hart Benton stating "I think the American Scene painters caricatured America. I always wanted to do myself."

Influence

Hopper's influence on the art world and pop culture is undeniable; see for numerous examples. Though he had no formal students, many artists have cited him as an influence, including

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935) is an American artist. Dine's work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, letterpress, and linocuts), sculpture, and photography. Educ ...

, and

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...

. An illustration of Hopper's influence is Rothko's early work ''Composition I'' (c. 1931), which is a direct paraphrase of Hopper's ''Chop Suey''. Hopper's cinematic compositions and dramatic use of light and dark have made him a favorite among filmmakers. For example, ''House by the Railroad'' is reported to have heavily influenced the iconic house in the

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

film '' Psycho''. The same painting has also been cited as being an influence on the home in the Terrence Malick film '' Days of Heaven''. The 1981 film '' Pennies from Heaven'' includes a tableau vivant of ''Nighthawks'', with the lead actors in the places of the diners. German director

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

also cites Hopper influence. His 1997 film ''

The End of Violence ''The End of Violence'' is a 1997 American drama film by the German director Wim Wenders. The film's cast includes Bill Pullman, Andie MacDowell, Gabriel Byrne, Traci Lind, Rosalind Chao, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Udo Kier, and Loren Dean, among ...

'' also incorporates a tableau vivant of ''Nighthawks'', recreated by actors. Noted surrealist horror film director

Dario Argento Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. His influential work in the horror film, horror and giallo genres during the 1970s and 1980s has led him to being referred to as the "Master of the ...

went so far as to recreate the diner and the patrons in ''Nighthawks'' as part of a set for his 1976 film ''

Deep Red ''Deep Red'' (), also known as ''The Hatchet Murders'', is a 1975 Italian ''giallo'' film directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Bernardino Zapponi. It stars David Hemmings as a musician who investigates a series of murders perf ...

'' (aka ''Profondo Rosso'').

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...

has cited the same painting as a visual inspiration for ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

''. To establish the lighting of scenes in the 2002 film '' Road to Perdition'', director

Sam Mendes Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes (born 1 August 1965) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was Knight Bachelor, knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours ...

drew from the paintings of Hopper as a source of inspiration, particularly ''New York Movie''. The Austrian filmmaker Gustav Deutsch based a movie on 13 of Hopper’s paintings. Homages to ''Nighthawks'' featuring cartoon characters or famous pop culture icons such as

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, despite a career that lasted only five years. His impact on cinema and popular culture was p ...

and

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

are often found in poster stores and gift shops. The cable television channel

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

sometimes runs animated clips based on Hopper paintings prior to airing its films. Musical influences include singer-songwriter

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

's 1975 live-in-the-studio album titled ''

Nighthawks at the Diner ''Nighthawks at the Diner'' is the third studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on October 21, 1975, on Asylum Records. It was recorded over four sessions in July in the Los Angeles Record Plant studio in front of a small invi ...

'', after the painting. In 1993,

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

was inspired sufficiently by Hopper's 1941 painting ''Girlie Show'' that she named her world tour after it and incorporated many of the theatrical elements and mood of the painting into the show. In 2004, British guitarist John Squire (formerly of

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...

) released a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

based on Hopper's work entitled '' Marshall's House''. Each song on the album is inspired by, and shares its title with, a painting by Hopper. Canadian rock group

The Weakerthans The Weakerthans are a Canadian indie rock band from Winnipeg. The band, led by John K. Samson, has released four studio albums and is currently inactive. History The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by John K. Samson, after he l ...

released their album Reunion Tour in 2007 featuring two songs inspired by and named after Hopper paintings, "Sun in an Empty Room", and "Night Windows", and have also referenced him in songs such as "Hospital Vespers". Hopper's ''Compartment C, Car 293'' inspired Polish composer Paweł Szymański's ''Compartment 2, Car 7'' for violin, viola, cello and

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

(2003), as well as Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine's song ''Compartiment C Voiture 293 Edward Hopper 1938'' (2011). Hopper's work has influenced multiple recordings by British band

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

. ''Early Sunday Morning'' was the inspiration for the sleeve of ''

Crush Crush may refer to: * Infatuation or limerence, the romantic attraction to another person * Puppy love, feelings of love, romance, or infatuation felt by young people Crush may also refer to: Film * Crush (1972 film), ''Crush'' (1972 film), a H ...

'' (1985). The same band's 2013 single " Night Café" was influenced by ''Nighthawks'' and mentions Hopper by name. Seven of his paintings are referenced in the lyrics. In poetry, numerous poems have been inspired by Hopper's paintings, typically as vivid descriptions and dramatizations; this genre is known as

ekphrasis Ekphrasis or ecphrasis (from the Greek) is a rhetorical device indicating the written description of a work of art. It is a vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art, either real or imagined. Thus, "an ekphrastic poem ...

. In addition to numerous individual poems inspired by Hopper, several poets have written collections based on Hopper's paintings. The French poet Claude Esteban wrote a collection of

prose poem Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form while otherwise deferring to poetic devices to make meaning. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associated with poetry. However, it make ...

s, '' Soleil dans une pièce vide'' (''Sun in an Empty room'', 1991), based on forty-seven Hopper paintings from between 1921 and 1963, ending with ''Sun in an Empty room'' (1963), hence the title. The poems each dramatized a Hopper painting, imagining a story behind the scene; the book won the Prix France Culture prize in 1991. Eight of the poems – ''Ground Swell'', ''Girl at Sewing Machine'', ''Compartment C, Car 293'', ''Nighthawks'', ''South Carolina Morning'', ''House by the Railroad'', ''People in the Sun'', and ''Roofs of Washington Square'' – were subsequently set to music by composer Graciane Finzi, and recorded with reading by the singer Natalie Dessay on her album ''Portraits of America'' (2016), where they were supplemented by selecting ten additional Hopper paintings, and songs from the American songbook to go with them. Similarly, the Spanish poet wrote a collection of fifty-one poems in Catalan, under the name ''Edward Hopper'' (2006, English translation 2010 by Lawrence Venuti), and James Hoggard wrote ''Triangles of Light: The Edward Hopper Poems'' (Wings Press, 2009). A collection by various poets was organized in ''The Poetry of Solitude: A Tribute to Edward Hopper'' 1995 (editor Gail Levin). Individual poems include Byron Vazakas (1957) and John Stone (1985) inspired by '' Early Sunday Morning'', and Mary Leader inspired by '' Girl at Sewing Machine''.

Exhibitions

In 1980, the show ''Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist'' opened at the

and toured to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate Gallery in London, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. It was the first major retrospective to present Hopper's oil paintings alongside his preparatory sketches and drawings. In 2004, a large selection of Hopper's paintings toured Europe, visiting the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, and the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

in London. The Tate exhibition became the second most visited in the gallery’s history at the time, with more than 420,000 visitors. In 2007, an exhibition focused on the period of Hopper's greatest achievements—from about 1925 to mid-century—was presented at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

. The show included fifty oil paintings, thirty watercolors, and twelve prints, including ''Nighthawks'', ''Chop Suey'', and ''Lighthouse and Buildings''. It was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

in Washington, and the

. In 2010, the Fondation de l'Hermitage in Lausanne, Switzerland, held an exhibition covering Hopper's entire career, with works drawn largely from the Whitney Museum in New York City. It included paintings, watercolors, etchings, cartoons, posters, and preparatory studies for selected paintings. The exhibition had previously been displayed in Milan and Rome. In 2012, a major exhibition opened at the

Grand Palais The (; ), commonly known as the , is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, France. Construction of the began in 1897 following the demolitio ...

in Paris. Divided into two parts, it covered Hopper's formative years (1900–1924), with comparisons to his contemporaries and French influences, and his mature style from 1925 onward, featuring works like ''House by the Railroad''. In 2020, the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland staged an exhibition emphasizing Hopper’s representations of American landscapes and cityscapes, curated in collaboration with the Whitney Museum. From 2022 to 2023, the Whitney Museum mounted ''Edward Hopper’s New York'', which explored the artist's relationship with the city he called home for nearly sixty years.

Art market

Works by Hopper rarely appear on the market. The artist was not prolific, painting just 366 canvases; during the 1950s, when he was in his 70s, he produced approximately five paintings a year. Hopper's longtime dealer, Frank Rehn, who gave the artist his first solo show in 1924, sold ''Hotel Window'' (1956) to collector Olga Knoepke for $7,000 () in 1957. In 1999, the Forbes Collection sold it to actor

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...

privately for around $10 million. In 2006, Martin sold it for $26.89 million at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

New York, an auction record for the artist at that time. In 2013, the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

put Hopper's '' East Wind Over Weehawken'' (1934) up for sale, hoping to garner $22–$28 million to establish a fund to acquire contemporary art. The painting, a street scene rendered in dark, earthy tones depicting the gabled house at 1001 Boulevard East at the corner of 49th Street in

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located on the Hudson Waterfront and Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's po ...

, is considered one of Hopper's best works. It was acquired directly from the dealer handling the artist's paintings in 1952, fifteen years before the death of the painter. The painting sold for a record-breaking $36 million at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

in New York, to an anonymous telephone bidder. In 2018, after the death of art collector Barney A. Ebsworth and the subsequent auction of many pieces from his collection, '' Chop Suey'' (1929) was sold for $91.9 million, becoming the most expensive of Hopper's works ever bought at auction.

In popular culture

In addition to his influence (see ), Hopper is frequently referenced in popular culture. In 1981, ''Hopper's Silence'', a documentary by Brian O'Doherty produced by the Whitney Museum of American Art, was shown at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center. Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, NYFF i ...

Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and Philanthropy, philanthropist whose donations assis ...

. Austrian director Gustav Deutsch created the 2013 film ''Shirley – Visions of Reality'' based on 13 of Edward Hopper's paintings. Other works based on or inspired by Hopper's paintings include Tom Waits's 1975 album ''

'', and a 2012 series of photographs by Gail Albert Halaban. In the book (1985, 1998) and traveling exhibition called ''Hopper's Places'', Gail Levin located and photographed the sites for many of Hopper's paintings. In her 1985 review of a related show organized by Levin, Vivien Raynor wrote in ''The New York Times'': "Miss Levin's deductions are invariably enlightening, as when she infers that Hopper's tendency to elongate structures was a reflection of his own great height." New wave band

's 1985 album ''

'' features artwork inspired by several Hopper paintings, including ''Early Sunday Morning'', ''Nighthawks'', and ''Room in New York''. The band's 2013 single "Night Café" was influenced by ''Nighthawks'' and mentions Hopper by name. Seven of his paintings are referenced in the lyrics. The

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

staged the East Coast premiere of Stewart Wallace's "Hopper's Wife"—a 1997

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a Chamber music, chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas ...

about an imagined marriage between Edward Hopper and the

gossip columnist A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially in a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are written in a light, informal style, and relate opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities fr ...

Hedda Hopper Elda Furry (May 2, 1885February 1, 1966), known professionally as Hedda Hopper, was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, more than 35 million people read her columns. A strong supporter of the Hous ...

—at Harlem Stage in 2016. Irish novelist Christine Dwyer Hickey published a novel, ''The Narrow Land'', in 2019 in which Edward and Jo Hopper were central characters.

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

included a song named "Hopper" on his 2017 album '' A Kind Revolution''.

Selected works

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Edward Hopper at the National Gallery of Art, Washington
* ttp://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-edward-hopper-11844 Oral history interview with Edward Hopper, June 17, 1959from the Smithsonian

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

* Exhaustive list of Hopper's works (in German)
Gallery of Edward Hopper's Paintings

Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Edward Hopper letter to Agnes Albert (1955)

"Edward Hopper all around Gloucester, MA"
— ''115+ paintings, drawings, and prints, with images then and now''.
explore Google Maps: Locations of "Edward Hopper all around Gloucester" sitesGloucester MA HarborWalk
Edward Hopper Story Moment, with additional links, one stop along free public access walkway.
Biblioklept.org: Notes on Painting 1933Edward Hopper House Art Center website
— non-profit art center for contemporary art exhibitions at birthplace/childhood home in Nyack
PBS American Masters "HOPPER: An American love story"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopper, Edward American realist painters American modern painters Precisionism 1882 births 1967 deaths Painters from New York City Parsons School of Design alumni Students of Robert Henri Artists from Manhattan People from Greenwich Village People from Nyack, New York American people of Dutch descent 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American painters American male painters Nyack High School alumni Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters