Hotel Lobby
Edward Hopper, 1943
Image not available: work still under copyright
Hotel Lobby, painted in 1943, shows a small hotel that seems almost empty: a long green carpet crosses the room, an elderly couple waits, one standing and one seated, a young blonde woman reads a book in front of the reception desk, and a clerk is barely visible in the shadows. In the background, a dark dining room reveals white tablecloths. The neutral light falls from the ceiling and casts few shadows, and the room has no windows; the only view outside is a painted landscape on the wall. This combination creates a sense of confinement and suspended time, typical of Hopper's recurring themes of isolation and transience. The older couple is thought to represent Hopper himself and his wife Josephine, who also modelled the female figures in his paintings. The preparatory studies show that the conversation between the elderly figures and a man reading were changed in the final picture, and X-rays confirm that Hopper made few alterations to the canvas. The work was honoured in 1945 and is now one of the most recognisable Hopper paintings at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
- Painter
- Edward Hopper
- Date
- 1943
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 82 × 104 cm
- Museum
- Museo de Arte de Indianápolis, Indianapolis
- Genre
- genre art
- Depicts
- high heels, lamp, fur coat, hotel, lobby, painting, woman, curtain