Edward Hopper: Poet of Loneliness or Master Colorist?

Edward Hopper, Burly Cobb's House, South Truro, oil on canvas

1930-33

Every since I saw his paintings of bright sunlight and long, soulful shadows I've been a little obsessed with the work of Edward Hopper. It had such an impact on me when I was struggling as an abstract painter as an undergraduate at Oberlin College that I abruptly switched to painting realist oils. 

I know how we see art is profoundly personal- I tell my wife Alice that arguing about art is about as useful as arguing about whether of not artichokes taste good (though for the record, Alice is wrong and they taste bad). Still I'm puzzled about what art writers choose to say about Hopper. One thing they're sure comment on is loneliness or isolation. Well, I can see that, but for me his work resonateswith what I'd call solitude. But we project what we want to see onto his art. 

Hopper as a young man.

Almost nobody seems to want to write about how Hopper uses color. He's one of the best- right up there with Monet. Color in nature isn't always sweet. It's far more valuable to employ colors that surprise the viewer's eye. 

On his first summer on Cape Cod Hopper stood on a hill in South Truro and looked down at an array of the cool grays of roofing shingles. What transfixed his eye was how these grays played off against the warm world of oranges, ochres, and yellow greens of the surrounding fields and hillside.  These warmer earthy tones  make our eyes see the gray roofs as silver and lend them an unexpected icy shimmer.

There's not a lot of detail in this Hopper oil. Yet he found new combinations of hues and made them seem that they are the only possible colors to describe the particular subject. 

By many accounts in person Hopper could be cold and remote, and probably that lends weight to the "Hopper painted loneliness" view. But for me his subtle but lush worlds of color show a deeper side to the artist. Beneath the surface there was a real talent celebrating sensual chromatic beauty. I believe we are so intrigued by the emotional themes we find in his work because he was so good at telling his story with extraordinarily skilled visual elements- high among them surprising color and unexpected compositions. 

He labored hard to share his warm vision with us- that's the mark of a generous man.