Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper, the American artist who lived from 1882 to 1967, is counted among the most celebrated figures of twentieth-century art, and he is best known for his striking images of city life. Through ordinary scenes, he gave viewers a way into his own feelings and reflections. This catalog revisits his body of work from a new angle, reading it alongside paintings by earlier European Old Masters.

Much of the volume focuses on where Hopper meets Johannes Vermeer (1632 to 1675). Both artists placed lone figures in quiet scenes that invite the viewer to sense what those people are thinking and feeling. The book sets Hopper's Morning Sun from 1952 beside Vermeer's Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, a work that has recently been restored. Although the two paintings were made nearly three centuries apart, in different places and cultural settings, they share correspondences that go well beyond composition.

By viewing Hopper through this comparative lens, the works gathered here call into question long-standing interpretations of this major American artist.