Interestingly, Hopper mentioned that his model for the woman in the Nighthawks was his wife Josephine (Kuh 134). One man is sitting alone, deep in his thoughts, the barkeeper at the counter is busy with his routine tasks, and even the couple is not holding a conversation – the woman is examining something small in her hands, and her companion is smoking his cigarette absent-mindedly and looking somewhere ahead. The night is dark, the street is empty, there are only a few people in the diner, and no one seems to be talking. In one of his interviews, Hopper admitted: “Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city” (Kuh 134). All of this reflects Hopper’s vision of his contemporary American society amid World War II – people continuing their daily routines in the context of international power struggles.Īnother impression one forms from viewing the painting are the feeling of loneliness. Interestingly, the image of the woman causes the associations with the pin-up culture which originated in 1941, as American soldiers pinned up above their beds the pictures of pretty girls waiting for them back home. In addition, the large coffee urns in the back, a woman drinking coffee from a large white mug with her bright red dress, bright red lipstick, and bright red hair. Some elements, which point to this, include Phillie’s cigars advertisement above the front window, the man serving his customers at the counter wearing a typical white cap, the white saltshakers. Moreover, it is easy to determine that the scene is set in the USA. Everything in it is very recognizable: anyone could imagine him- or herself in this setting – drinking coffee at the counter. While looking at the Nighthawks, resonating with the painting and letting more layers of meaning unfold, the viewer notices that, apart from its seeming triviality, the depicted situation is also familiar and engaging. He masterfully translated the result of his observations of the place combined with his interpretations forming a composed, very identifiable in its ordinariness scene. Hopper also remarked that his inspiration for the Nighthawks was a restaurant on Greenwich Avenue in New York (Kuh 134). I don’t know how I could explain it any further” (Kuh 142). When Katharine Kuh, a known art critic, and curator, asked Edward Hopper about the meaning and the implications of the Nighthawks, he replied: “The whole answer is there on the canvas. The painting seems rather uncomplicated, with a straightforward story – three people, a diner, a street corner at night. At first glance, it might appear that there is not much narrative in the Nighthawks.
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