History: This image is of a painting by American painter Edward Hopper. It shows the scene of a “a restaurant on New York’s Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet.” It shows four characters, as distance from each other as they are from the viewer, which sees them through the frame of a glass window. The image light and color to set the scene – Hopper portrays the loneliness of the characters through the newly invented fluorescent lights of the time. This is contrasted to the darkness of the street, and a second removal – the viewer through the glass.
Hopper is known to create images of everyday people and landscape. His collection of works exhibit mainly hidden, somber figures in colorful scenes of everyday life. Through this, he captures their personal and public narratives in images that almost look like photographs. His use of frame and perspective further alienate and morph the image to alter our understanding of it. His other famous works include “Morning Sun” (1952) and Gas (1940).
Location: MK Gallery