Edward Hopper: loneliness of his time
Edward Hopper was an American realist painter of the early 1900s, a time when Cubism was on the rise. He was mostly known by his oil paintings while being exquisitely talented in watercolor painting and print art. He was a commercial artist at first, but he could breathe and express through oil, watercolors, and print. He was only seen as a commercial artist until he sold “The Mansard Roof” to Brooklyn Museum of Arts for $ 100, in 1923. He gained recognition and it was the milestone that started his career.
He reflected the modern American way of life through his perspective, both in his urban and rural settings. He did not like to discuss his art or his life. He thought all the questions one might have could be answered by looking at his paintings. He did not like sentimentality and engaging in small talk, as we see in his paintings, his subjects seem absent from daily life.
He painted streets, apartments, cafes, houses, gas stations, seas and beaches, and lighthouses that all seemed deserted. His paintings had distracted people isolated and confused in different settings, as individuals or as people standing together but not having any communication, which provokes feelings of loneliness.
His most famous painting: “the nighthawks”. This painting is not only an absence, but each individual present in the diner also suffer on their own, they seem lonely and look like they carry the weight of the pearl harbor attack. The dazzling light of the restaurant separates itself from the darkness of the night prevailing outside and enhances the subtle feeling and mood of the painting. The weight, the contrast of light, cherries in the shop and the separation of the brightness makes the scene reflect the darkness of post-Pearl Harbor pessimism. According to his wife, Jo Hopper’s notes “He denied that he purposefully infused this or any other of his paintings with symbols of human isolation and urban emptiness, but he acknowledged that in Nighthawks, unconsciously, probably, he was painting the loneliness of a large city.”
He was mesmerized by the details of Victorian buildings, houses, and reality. It feels like there is an elephant in the room that we can’t quite put a name on. Being inside his paintings does not feel right. Some say that he wanted us to realize the effortlessness of being watched, and the ease of observing others.
It is also said that, what he loves drawing most is the sun hitting a simple house. Hopper often uses empty spaces in his work. An example is the gas station on the shore of an empty country road and the natural lights of the sky and the intersection of artificial light from the gas station.
In the many works of Hopper, the sharp relationship of humankind with the environment is covered. Just like silent scenes in movies or games, the characters in Hopper’s paintings seem to have been painted before or after a scene that reached the top.
It is very easy for the audience to pass by this scene, run into this couple, look inside their home and gaze at their belongings. They can easily observe us, but they are busy in their own worlds. The wife seems to be watching the husband, suspicious and irritated. The husband seems so distracted as if he is not present at that moment, lost in his thoughts. They are both alone in their own world, no one seems to be near them, not a car, a person, a home at sight. We see an infinity of loneliness, it will get dark soon, and we can be sure that their state of mind will continue inside their home.
He is often stated as the best painter to express loneliness. Let’s try to see why. He had been living in a time of suffering: world wars, depression. Cubists wanted to transform art to break its limits, but Hopper stayed as a realist, soon to be acknowledged as the most important realist painters of 20th century America. Historical context shows us the world was an unhappy place to be. His subjects seem lonely but they are a reflection of becoming distant from reality.
