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The Hidden Depths of Edward Hopper’s Iconic Painting
An irresistible depiction by a lonesome artist
By all accounts, Edward Hopper was a socially reclusive man. His wife Jo, who was gregarious by nature, recorded in her diary that “E. so seldom deigns to talk.” Another friend stated that Hopper often seemed like he “was on the verge of saying something. But he never did.”
To look at an image like Nighthawks, painted by Hopper in 1942, is to become aware of a deeper kind of quiet. There are few paintings in the history of art that place the viewer so precisely into silence as this one.
Through a broad expanse of window, we see into a diner where three customers have congregated. As the viewer, we are outside in the chill, drawn to the light of the diner but denied entry by the wall of glass. Notice how there’s not even a doorway for us to enter or leave. The spartan feel and sealed-off nature of the diner emphasises the atmosphere of the scene: we cannot hear what’s going on behind the window, making it all the more inviting…
Narrative clues
A row of empty stools tells us it’s late, perhaps sometime after midnight — late enough for the streets to have emptied and for the lights of nearby apartments to have been switched off. The yellow interior of the diner is like…
