Edward Hopper worked as a commercial illustrator for over 20 years to support himself, eventually finding financial stability in his 40s allowing him to pursue painting full-time with his most famous works created during his late career.
Hopper studied at the New York School of Art in 1900 and in 1906, he moved briefly to Paris where he was attracted to the work of Renoir, Manet and Degas. Hopper considered himself an impressionist and his style remained relatively unchanged throughout his career, typically combining sketches observed from life with imagined compositions constructed in the studio.
Although an imposing figure at 6 foot 5 inches Hopper was a quiet introverted man with a gentle sense of humour. Hopper married Jo Nivison, an artist and actress, in 1924 and lived modestly in a 4th floor apartment at Washington Square , Lower Manhattan, working there until his death in 1967. Conscious of the changing tides of success, the Hoppers were frugal in their spending and chose to heat canned food and eat at inexpensive diners and lunch counters across the city, spaces he found fascinating. Many of Hopper’s works were inspired by combining elements from multiple Greenwich Village locations, painted from memory.
Hopper’s vision of reality was selective, an outward expression of his inner life as an artist, his focus typified by isolated figures in quiet, contemplative, introspective scenes from everyday urban life.
Nighthawks (1942) is set in composite, imagined location, suggested by wedge-shaped intersections around Greenwich Avenue and possibly influenced by the curved prow of the triangular Flatiron Building at 5th Avenue and Broadway.
It's been suggested Hopper may have also found inspiration in 'The Killers' a 1927 prohibition-era short story by Ernest Hemingway, where the protagonist has a run-in with a pair of hitmen who are seeking to kill a boxer in a local restaurant.
Hopper simplified the scene in his sketch book, reducing elements and expanding the space of the diner to look in on an empty, lonely world of solitude.
He worked on the nocturnal composition for about a month and half, posing for two of the figures himself in a mirror and his wife posing for the girl.
Completed in January 1942, Hopper sold the painting 4 months later for $3,000 to the Art Institute of Chicago, where it remains on display, now recognised as one of the most iconic works of 20th century American art.
Reluctant to speak about himself or his work Hooper simply said "If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint".
Hopper was an avid moviegoer and his work is said to have anticipated and influenced the Film Noir cinematic style. I like to think of his studies and drawings as a methodical process he used to plot the stories he told on canvas.
