Edward Hopper’s nighthawks is one of the most famous works in American Art in the 20th century, and it is also one of the scenes most imitated by film and television works. It is said that the painting was inspired by a small restaurant on Greenwich Avenue in New York City. Hope completely simplified the pattern of the painting to highlight the suffocating atmosphere of loneliness and isolation.

The street outside the restaurant was empty and there was not even a trace of waste on the road to indicate that passers-by had passed. There was nowhere to see the door into the small restaurant, as if the people inside were trapped. The three customers in the restaurant meditated, and there seemed to be no topic to share with each other or with the waiter.

The lack of story elements and exquisite composition, coupled with its bearing significance, have made this painting not only depict a certain place, but also have a wide resonance and universal connotation.

Looking for light in the dark

“Nighthawk” has always been positioned as a landmark painting to express loneliness and alienation. This painting was created in 1942. When incandescent light was just used in the early 1940s, hope had mastered its characteristics and added this unnatural light to his work. The open streets, the silent people in the restaurants, and the cold incandescent color convey the loneliness of urban life. Although hope denied that he intended to release such signals in his paintings, he admitted that he may have subconsciously sketched a alienation between people in big cities. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why loneliness can become a classic.

Many people may not know that Nighthawk is hope’s response to a generation of serious crises - Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and World War II. In fact, Nighthawk alludes to the far-reaching psychological impact of World War II on Americans. Even in the rear area that has not been destroyed by the war, people’s mood is full of depression and anxiety.

In the 1940s, before the blackout in Times Square, New York

For fear of attack, New York conducted power outage exercises in public places, and the city lights were dimmed. Hope, who likes walking, is forced to walk around a city that is literally and figuratively shrouded in darkness. The inspiration of Nighthawk came from a brightly lit restaurant he imagined one night.

From the perspective of hope’s experience in the war era, perhaps hope regards this brightly lit restaurant as a beacon of light and hope, rather than a place isolated from the outside; When everything outside is cruel and unbearable, a time to find a group in the dark. He purposefully includes four characters, not just a single character, which is not common in many of his other paintings.

The economic crisis in the United States in the 1930s made the prosperity and joy brought by the once rapidly developing capitalist economy ebb overnight, leaving only dry, anxious, desperate and thirsty. It was an uneasy era. People experienced sudden poverty and pain, but at the same time, they also kept asking questions, seeking answers and antidotes in different forms and media. This attitude of pursuit contributed to the eruption of American modern art in the same period.

The Nighthawk was purchased by the Chicago Museum of art in 1942 and has always been one of the most popular exhibits among visitors. Hope once mentioned in a letter to Daniel Catton rich, the then curator of the museum, “Nighthawk” is one of his “favorite works”.

Unidentified urban space

Modern urban life scene is Edward hope’s best visual theme. Many people try to find the actual location of Nighthawk in New York, but they get nothing. Perhaps hope has never deliberately copied any specific space. The restaurant in Nighthawk is probably a scene extracted from hope’s accumulated impression of life. In a sense, such a space is more realistic than the realistic work of a corner restaurant, because it integrates the author’s most direct sensory experience.

Like Nighthawk, there are three other works created by hope in the 1930s - New York movie, gas and early Sunday morning, which also let us feel the hope style expression in different scenes.

The New York cinema reflects the same creative principles. Hope began to work on this painting in December 1938. Before that, he experienced a long period of inspiration depletion. For this work, the artist visited all major cinemas in New York, including the strode theater, the universal theater and the Republic theater. Finally, he decided to stay at the Palace Theater (today’s lunt Fontana theater) on West 46th street for the initial sketch work, but the projection hall and corridor finally presented in the picture did not refer to the interior of any specific theater. It should be said that the scene in the painting is hope’s overall perception of the concept of “New York cinema”.

Edward hope, New York cinema, New York Museum of modern art

On the right side of the picture, leading to the exit of the projection hall, in the only corner illuminated by lights, stood an unidentified woman, who fell into meditation; The woman standing in the corridor seems to be the theme of the picture, compared with the shadows of the audience scattered in the dark projection hall on the left. The woman’s blonde hair and long face were not eye-catching. It is said that hope designed the clothes of the women in the painting by imitating the clothes of the female employees of the Palace Theater in New York, which can be said to be a re creation of the real visual elements. Hope’s wife, artist Jo hopper, is the prototype of the woman on the right side of the picture. She also appeared in Nighthawk.

The poet Joseph Stanton wrote a beautiful poem for this work, entitled “Edward Hopper’s” New York movie “. The last section of the poem is as follows:

The picture tells us a lot about

Different quality

Edward Hopper’s nighthawks is one of the most famous works in American Art in the 20th century, and it is also one of the scenes most imitated by film and television works. It is said that the painting was inspired by a small restaurant on Greenwich Avenue in New York City. Hope completely simplified the pattern of the painting to highlight the suffocating atmosphere of loneliness and isolation.

The street outside the restaurant was empty and there was not even a trace of waste on the road to indicate that passers-by had passed. There was nowhere to see the door into the small restaurant, as if the people inside were trapped. The three customers in the restaurant meditated, and there seemed to be no topic to share with each other or with the waiter.

The lack of story elements and exquisite composition, coupled with its bearing significance, have made this painting not only depict a certain place, but also have a wide resonance and universal connotation.

Looking for light in the dark

“Nighthawk” has always been positioned as a landmark painting to express loneliness and alienation. This painting was created in 1942. When incandescent light was just used in the early 1940s, hope had mastered its characteristics and added this unnatural light to his work. The open streets, the silent people in the restaurants, and the cold incandescent color convey the loneliness of urban life. Although hope denied that he intended to release such signals in his paintings, he admitted that he may have subconsciously sketched a alienation between people in big cities. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why loneliness can become a classic.

Many people may not know that Nighthawk is hope’s response to a generation of serious crises - Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and World War II. In fact, Nighthawk alludes to the far-reaching psychological impact of World War II on Americans. Even in the rear area that has not been destroyed by the war, people’s mood is full of depression and anxiety.

In the 1940s, before the blackout in Times Square, New York

For fear of attack, New York conducted power outage exercises in public places, and the city lights were dimmed. Hope, who likes walking, is forced to walk around a city that is literally and figuratively shrouded in darkness. The inspiration of Nighthawk came from a brightly lit restaurant he imagined one night.

From the perspective of hope’s experience in the war era, perhaps hope regards this brightly lit restaurant as a beacon of light and hope, rather than a place isolated from the outside; When everything outside is cruel and unbearable, a time to find a group in the dark. He purposefully includes four characters, not just a single character, which is not common in many of his other paintings.

The economic crisis in the United States in the 1930s made the prosperity and joy brought by the once rapidly developing capitalist economy ebb overnight, leaving only dry, anxious, desperate and thirsty. It was an uneasy era. People experienced sudden poverty and pain, but at the same time, they also kept asking questions, seeking answers and antidotes in different forms and media. This attitude of pursuit contributed to the eruption of American modern art in the same period.

The Nighthawk was purchased by the Chicago Museum of art in 1942 and has always been one of the most popular exhibits among visitors. Hope once mentioned in a letter to Daniel Catton rich, the then curator of the museum, “Nighthawk” is one of his “favorite works”.

Unidentified urban space

Modern urban life scene is Edward hope’s best visual theme. Many people try to find the actual location of Nighthawk in New York, but they get nothing. Perhaps hope has never deliberately copied any specific space. The restaurant in Nighthawk is probably a scene extracted from hope’s accumulated impression of life. In a sense, such a space is more realistic than the realistic work of a corner restaurant, because it integrates the author’s most direct sensory experience.

Like Nighthawk, there are three other works created by hope in the 1930s - New York movie, gas and early Sunday morning, which also let us feel the hope style expression in different scenes.

The New York cinema reflects the same creative principles. Hope began to work on this painting in December 1938. Before that, he experienced a long period of inspiration depletion. For this work, the artist visited all major cinemas in New York, including the strode theater, the universal theater and the Republic theater. Finally, he decided to stay at the Palace Theater (today’s lunt Fontana theater) on West 46th street for the initial sketch work, but the projection hall and corridor finally presented in the picture did not refer to the interior of any specific theater. It should be said that the scene in the painting is hope’s overall perception of the concept of “New York cinema”.

Edward hope, New York cinema, New York Museum of modern art

On the right side of the picture, leading to the exit of the projection hall, in the only corner illuminated by lights, stood an unidentified woman, who fell into meditation; The woman standing in the corridor seems to be the theme of the picture, compared with the shadows of the audience scattered in the dark projection hall on the left. The woman’s blonde hair and long face were not eye-catching. It is said that hope designed the clothes of the women in the painting by imitating the clothes of the female employees of the Palace Theater in New York, which can be said to be a re creation of the real visual elements. Hope’s wife, artist Jo hopper, is the prototype of the woman on the right side of the picture. She also appeared in Nighthawk.

The poet Joseph Stanton wrote a beautiful poem for this work, entitled “Edward Hopper’s” New York movie “. The last section of the poem is as follows:

The picture tells us a lot about

Different quality