Chop Suey
Edward Hopper, 1929
Image not available: work still under copyright
Chop Suey (1929) is an oil on canvas by Edward Hopper showing two women talking in the foreground of a restaurant, with another couple visible in the background. The scene is built around a few sharply defined details: the face of the woman in green, the coat hanging above her, her companion's back, the teapot on the table, the frosted lower pane of the window and the sign outside. These details also evoke senses other than sight, such as the hum of the light, the murmur of voices or the smell of cigarette smoke, which reinforces the sense of a remembered scene rather than a faithfully copied one. Despite the social setting, the painting conveys a quiet loneliness: the figures seem not to communicate with one another, and their faces reveal little. The woman's white skin and bold red makeup make her look almost like a doll. The setting has been linked to a Chinese restaurant the Hoppers frequented, and Jo Hopper, the painter's wife and frequent model, most likely posed for the female figures. The work sold in 2018 for 92 million dollars, a record for the artist.
- Painter
- Edward Hopper
- Date
- 1929
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 81 × 96 cm
- Depicts
- restaurant, fire escape, table, chair, earring, ladder, scarf, sweater