Hopper

We visited on Via Del Corso at the Fondazione ROMA, the first major painting exhibit in Italy of the works of American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967). Hopper painted landscapes, daily life and human solitude, his style is called American realism. The exhibit was a tribute to his entire career, in all 160 works. Some very famous works were on display and some never seen in public before like Girlie Show (1941). I also liked Soir Bleu (1914). His paintings are atmospheric, revealing beauty in the most ordinary subjects. The painting Nighthawks, probably one of his most famous, was not on display but an entire room had been constructed so you could experience the physical space of this painting, enter Hopper's world and become part of the painting itself.


Most of his work today over 2500 works are at the Whitney Museum in New York City and also at the Art Institute of Chicago. His female subjects are taken from one women, his wife who posed for him. The exhibit was well done and I liked the way it was presented. The comments were in Italian and English and gave just the right amount of information, helping you to appreciate each tableau. Looking at it today, he painted a world that no longer exist. A period not far from us but looking at it today, it seems to me it was centuries ago, strange, the world has changed so much in the last 50 years, it might as well be another planet. I noted that many of his subjects smoke, a cigarette and drink hard liquor. It was just part of life back then. So from an historical perspective it was interesting. A beautiful exhibit of one of my favorite painters.