Edward Hopper Oil Paintings, American Realist 1882 - 1967.An American painter best remembered for his eerily realistic depictions of solitude in contemporary American life. Born in New York, Edward Hopper studied commercial art and painting in New York City. One of his teacher, artist Robert Henri, encouraged his students to use their art to "make a stir in the earth." Henri, an influence on Edward Hopper, aggravated students to render realistic paintings of urban life. Henri's students, many of whom developed into important painting artists, became known as the Ashcan School of American art. Edward Hopper completed three trips to Europe to study the emerging art scene there, but different with many of his colleagues who imitated the abstract cubist experimental paintings, the impracticality of the pragmatist painters enamored Edward Hopper. His early projects reflect the realist influence. While he worked for several years painting commercially, Edward Hopper sustained painting. In 1925 he created House by the Railroad, a classic work that marks his artistic maturity. Edward Hopper's rural New England paintings, such as Gas (1940), are no less thoughtful. He, depicts small-town America with the same intellect of forlorn solitude that permeates his portrayal of city life. Here too, Edward Hopper's paintings exploit vast empty spaces, represented by a lonely gas station astride an empty country road and the sharp contrast between the paintings natural light, moderated by the lush forest, and glaring artificial light coming from inside. The best known of these paintings, Nighthawks (1942). Nighthawk shows the lonely customers frequenting a downtown all-night cafeteria. The diner's unsympathetic emotional lights set it off from the gentle night slight.

Edward Hopper's Countryside Paintings

Edward Hopper's countryside New England paintings are no less thoughtful than the rest of his catalogue. He depicts small-town America with the same sense of forlorn solitude that permeates his portrayal of city life. Here too, Edward Hopper's paintings make the most of vast empty spaces, represented by a lonely gas rank astride a blank nation road and the spiky contrast between the paintings natural light, moderated by the lush forest, and brilliant artificial light coming from inside. Edward Hopper’s painting style remained unaffected by American Abstraction or European art of the day.

Edward Hopper Studied Commercial Art

Born in New York, Edward Hopper studied commercial art and painting in New York City where he gained the motivation to render realistic paintings of everyday urban life, which he later painted in other backdrops. Edward Hopper made three trips to Europe to study the emerging art scene there, but unlike many of his contemporaries who imitated the abstract cubist experimental paintings, the idealism of the realist painters enamored Edward Hopper. His early projects reflect the realist influence. His figures are anonymous and withdrawn, as if he wanted to stress their very separateness.