Finding Comfort Amidst Quarantine With Edward Hopper

MUSINGS

Apr 13

APRIL 13, 2020

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world. —Edward Hopper

This month’s artistic musings include the timeless work of Edward Hopper. I came across process sketches for Early Sunday Morning when curating this month's moodboard and (naturally) went down an internet wormhole, sifting through the Whitney's extensive online collection of his works. (If you have 20 minutes, I highly recommend perusing here). (Just because museums are closed, doesn't mean one can stop exploring!)

Images via Whitney Museum

Morning Sun, 1952

It’s no coincidence that given the current global circumstances, I found myself reflecting on these pieces a bit more this time around — mostly considering the translation of Hopper’s solemn mood and austerity into the current state of our “new normal” that is social distancing.

Some initial thoughts and feelings were definitely along the lines of uncanny for sure (I think we can all agree that this whole pandemic truly feels mysterious in its own sense). Yet eventually, I leaned into embracing a strange comfort in digging deeper through the Whitney’s archive. You know that feeling when you fail an exam and are totally devastated, but then you learn your friend also failed, and so you weirdly feel a little better about you being a failure? I’d more-or-less equate that feeling to this comfort — except maybe just a little more elevated in this context (given the global scale of this situation and what not). To that point though, I think the eerie familiarity in Hopper’s work began to lend itself to a little consolation — in recognizing mostly that we as a collective have endured something like this before, overcoming it while undoubtedly coming out of it more resilient and connected as a community (not to mention bringing the most promising change post-Depression/WWII era).

So to Hopper and these study sketches especially — thank you for today’s glimmer of home amidst the current context of this odd time. Until this (finally) passes though, I’ll continue browsing more museum archives and drawing more deep connections among my other quarantine #deepfeels.

Morning in a City, 1944