Nighthawks
Greter Gutierrez
A Critique on Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks In 1942, realist painter, Edward Hopper, painted the famous Nighthawks and it has remained one of the most recognizable pieces of art since. At first glance, the painting is simple: a nighttime scene of a diner with three customers. Two customers appear to be together, a man and a woman. The third is a man by himself; the fourth person is a man in white who is behind the counter and consequently a worker there. None of the characters are looking at one another. One can infer that because of the outdated clothes and the aesthetic of the diner, it reflects the time in which it was created. During the 1940s America was in the middle of World War II and although many were caught in feelings of despair and turmoil, many Americans continued with normalcy, and the painting shows this in its simplicity. Additionally, the perspective is from outside, at an angle from a street corner which makes it even more compelling to the viewer because it highlights the loneliness and introspection of the time in being the outsider looking in from a distant war.
Taking a look at the people in the diner, one immediately notices the detachment and unemotional faces of each individual. On one hand, this makes it difficult to read what the characters are feeling at the precise moment. A guess would be pure apathy. The men and woman sitting next to each other appear to be more self-involved than focusing on one another. The woman inspects her right hand’s nails. The man looks straight ahead. Yet, the couple’s hands are touching, a sign of solidarity. The second man is solitary and has his back turned. The worker is dressed in white and is maybe talking to the couple in familiar small talk. Simply, isolation is prominent in the diner. This shows that people don’t cure loneliness and that there is something comforting in being alone with a number of people.
The diner is both very open and closed off. The wide and large windows allow
A Critique on Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks In 1942, realist painter, Edward Hopper, painted the famous Nighthawks and it has remained one of the most recognizable pieces of art since. At first glance, the painting is simple: a nighttime scene of a diner with three customers. Two customers appear to be together, a man and a woman. The third is a man by himself; the fourth person is a man in white who is behind the counter and consequently a worker there. None of the characters are looking at one another. One can infer that because of the outdated clothes and the aesthetic of the diner, it reflects the time in which it was created. During the 1940s America was in the middle of World War II and although many were caught in feelings of despair and turmoil, many Americans continued with normalcy, and the painting shows this in its simplicity. Additionally, the perspective is from outside, at an angle from a street corner which makes it even more compelling to the viewer because it highlights the loneliness and introspection of the time in being the outsider looking in from a distant war.
Taking a look at the people in the diner, one immediately notices the detachment and unemotional faces of each individual. On one hand, this makes it difficult to read what the characters are feeling at the precise moment. A guess would be pure apathy. The men and woman sitting next to each other appear to be more self-involved than focusing on one another. The woman inspects her right hand’s nails. The man looks straight ahead. Yet, the couple’s hands are touching, a sign of solidarity. The second man is solitary and has his back turned. The worker is dressed in white and is maybe talking to the couple in familiar small talk. Simply, isolation is prominent in the diner. This shows that people don’t cure loneliness and that there is something comforting in being alone with a number of people.
The diner is both very open and closed off. The wide and large windows allow