Edward Hopper’s New York Paintings Oscillate Between Public and Private Space

18 October 2022

Edward Hopper, Tables for Ladies (1930). © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Exhibition view: Edward Hopper's New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (19 October 2022–5 March 2023). Courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art.

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Edward Hopper, Morning Sun (1952). © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Exhibition view: Edward Hopper's New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (19 October 2022–5 March 2023). Courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art.

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Edward Hopper, Automat (1927). Oil on canvas. 71.4 x 88.9 cm. © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Des Moines Art Center; purchased with funds from Edmundson Art Foundation Inc. Photo: Rich Sanders.

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Edward Hopper, Room in New York (1932). Oil on canvas. 73.7 x 91.4 cm. © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust.

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Edward Hopper, Room in Brooklyn (1932). Oil on canvas. 74 x 86.4 cm. © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Charles Henry Hayden Fund. Photo: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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Edward Hopper, Drug Store (1927). Oil on canvas. 73.7 x 101.9 cm. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; bequest of John T. Spaulding. © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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Edward Hopper, Sunlight in a Cafeteria (1958). Oil on canvas. 102.1 x 152.7 cm. © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903.

The Whitney Museum has put on a magnificent retrospective of Edward Hopper's work.

Focusing on the American realist painter's fascination with New York, Edward Hopper's New York (19 October 2022⁠—5 March 2023) reveals a fresh perspective on the artist's life in the booming East Coast metropolis, where he lived for nearly 60 years.

The exhibition features a number of Hopper's window paintings. Hopper would spend significant periods strolling the streets of New York, intrigued by its inhabitants and the fluidity between the interior and exterior.

In Night Windows (1928), Hopper leans into voyeuristic perspectives by capturing a private moment of an anonymous woman in her apartment after dark. Evoking intrigue, the composition is cinematic, illuminating a glimpse of an intimate scene for passers-by.

Edward Hopper's New York includes paintings, sketches, prints and illustrations by the artist, alongside archival materials including journals, correspondence, and photographs.

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Ocula Advisor Rory Mitchell Contact Edward Hopper

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