The Essential Edward Hopper by Justin Spring

This post was originally published on a now-retired blog that I maintained from roughly 2005 to 2013. As a result, there may be some references that seem out of date. 

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I thought I bought this book at The Art Institute in Chicago, but the tag on the book says Boston, so it must have been there.

Light. Would I have predicted that is what I would have found most interesting about Hopper’s paintings? Or at least what they would have made me observe in a way I never had before? Look at Morning Sun, below.

That’s not light coming in the window. That’s a green square on a brown square. It only looks like light because that’s what our eye is used to seeing. But that’s not what he painted nor what he had to think about in order to paint it. I don’t think I’m ever going to look at a painting the same way again. I mean, I’ve always liked the way light can be made to look in paintings, but there has always been something in my brain which has prevented me from seeing what it really is. It’s only because it’s so obvious in Morning Sun that I’m now able to appreciate other paintings in a whole new way.

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This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can follow him on Twitter @ericlanke or contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.