Editing Edward Hopper (section)

=== 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 "[[Ashcan School]]".<ref name="Wagstaff 2004, p. 13">{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=13}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Wagstaff 2004, p. 13" />

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]].<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|pp=130–145}}</ref> Hopper's ''The Long Leg'' (1935) is a nearly all-blue sailing picture with the simplest of elements, while his ''[[Ground Swell (painting)|Ground Swell]]'' (1939) is more complex and depicts a group of youngsters out for a sail, a theme reminiscent of [[Winslow Homer]]'s iconic ''[[Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)]]'' (1876).<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=266}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=67}}</ref>

In 1925, he produced ''House by the Railroad''. This classic work depicts an isolated [[Victorian architecture|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".<ref>{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=229}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Wagstaff 2004, p. 12">{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=12}}</ref> As if to prove the point, his late painting ''Sun in an Empty Room'' (1963) is a pure study of sunlight.<ref>{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=28}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|pp=70–71}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrich|1971}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|pp=169, 213}}</ref>

As Hopper scholar Gail Levin wrote of ''Hotel Room'':

{{quote|The spare vertical and diagonal bands of color and sharp electric shadows create a concise and intense drama in the night... Combining poignant subject matter with such a powerful formal arrangement, Hopper's composition is pure enough to approach an almost abstract sensibility, yet layered with a poetic meaning for the observer.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=212}}</ref>}}

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.<ref name="Levin 2001, p. 220, 264">{{harvnb|Levin|2001|pp=220, 264}}</ref> 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, "[T]he open book is [[Plato]], reread too late".

Levin interprets the painting:

{{quote|Plato's philosopher, in search of the real and the true, must turn away from this transitory realm and contemplate the eternal Forms and Ideas. The pensive man in Hopper's painting is positioned between the lure of the earthly domain, figured by the woman, and the call of the higher spiritual domain, represented by the ethereal lightfall. The pain of thinking about this choice and its consequences, after reading Plato all night, is evident. He is paralysed by the fervent inner labour of the [[Depression (mood)|melancholic]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=55}}</ref>}}

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]] 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,<ref name="Levin 2001, p. 220, 264" /> 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.

[[File:Nighthawks by Edward Hopper 1942.jpg|thumb|''[[Nighthawks (painting)|Nighthawks]]'' (1942)]]
The best-known of Hopper's paintings, ''[[Nighthawks (painting)|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.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=288}}</ref> 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]]'s short story "[[The Killers (Hemingway short story)|The Killers]]", which Hopper greatly admired,<ref>Hopper wrote: "I want to compliment you for printing Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers" in the March ''Scribner's''. It is refreshing to come upon such a honest piece of work in an American magazine, after wading through the vast sea of sugar coated mush that makes up the most of our fiction. Of the concessions to popular prejudices, the side stepping of truth, and the ingenious mechanism of the trick ending there is no taint in this story.", Edward Hopper to the editor, ''Scribner's Magazine'', 82 (June 1927), p. 706d, quoted in {{harvtxt|Levin|1979b|p=[https://archive.org/details/edwardho00levi/page/6/mode/2up 7]}}, {{harvtxt|Levin|1979b|loc=[https://archive.org/details/edwardho00levi/page/n73/mode/2up note 25]}}</ref> or from the more philosophical "[[A Clean, Well-Lighted Place]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=44}}</ref> The mood of the painting has sometimes been interpreted as an expression of wartime anxiety.<ref name="metmuseum">{{cite web |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hopp/hd_hopp.htm |title=Edward Hopper (1882–1967) |first=Jessica |last=Murphy |date=June 2007 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=April 22, 2020}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|1995b|p=350}}</ref>

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]] 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=198}}</ref>

Hopper's rural [[New England]] scenes, such as ''[[Gas (painting)|Gas]]'' (1940), are no less meaningful. ''Gas'' represents "a different, equally clean, well-lighted refuge ... ke[pt] open for those in need as they navigate the night, traveling their own miles to go before they sleep."<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=Walter |title=Silent Theater: The Art of Edward Hopper |location=London/New York |publisher=Phaidon Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0714845418}}</ref> The work presents a fusion of several Hopper themes: the solitary figure, the melancholy of dusk, and the lonely road.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=278}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Maker|1990|p=37}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Wagstaff|2004|p=20}}</ref> 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 [[American burlesque|burlesque]] 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."<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=282}}</ref>

Hopper's portraits and self-portraits were relatively few after his student years.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=162}}</ref> 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]]. 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=268}}</ref> Hopper also painted ''Portrait of Orleans'' (1950), a "portrait" of the Cape Cod town from its main street.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=332}}</ref>

Though very interested in the [[American Civil War]] and [[Mathew Brady]]'s battlefield photographs, Hopper made only two historical paintings. Both depicted soldiers on their way to [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]].<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=274}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=262}}</ref>

Hopper's final oil painting, ''[[Two Comedians]]'' (1966), painted one year before his death, focuses on his love of the theater. Two French [[pantomime]] 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=380}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Kuh |first=Katharine |title=The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Modern Artists |location=New York |publisher=Da Capo |year=2000 |page=134}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{harvnb|Levin|2001|p=334}}</ref>

{{quote|Hopper's ''Summer Evening'', a young couple talking in the harsh light of a cottage porch, is inescapably romantic, but Hopper was hurt by one critic's suggestion that it would do for an illustration in "any woman's magazine." Hopper had the painting in the back of his head "for 20 years and I never thought of putting the figures in until I actually started last summer. Why any art director would tear the picture apart. The figures were not what interested me; it was the light streaming down, and the night all around."|''Time'', January 19, 1948, pp. 59–60.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Travelling Man |magazine=Time |date=January 19, 1948 |pages=59–60}}</ref>}}