Edward Hopper Painting Sells for $91.9 Million, Setting New Record for American Art

[DonViejo]

Source: The Daily Beast



A painting by American realist painter Edward Hopper sold for $91.9 million, with fees, at Christie’s on Tuesday night, setting a new record for not only the artist but the entire category of American art. The 1929 painting “Chop Suey” was the last major Hopper painting from the 1920s still in private hands, and it went for more than double the painter’s previous high of $40.4 million in 2012. The work, which depicts two young women sitting in a Chinese restaurant, was the priciest of 91 works offered from the estate of American art collector Barney A. Ebsworth, who passed away in April. The painting was estimated at between $70 million and $100 million. Christie’s has not revealed who purchased the painting, but auction house chairman Marc Porter reportedly told a press conference he was hopeful that he would “see it hanging again soon.”

READ IT AT THE NEW YORK TIMES

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/edward-hopper-painting-sells-for-dollar919-million-setting-new-record-for-american-art

[madaboutharry]

1. "Chop Suey" is one of my favorite paintings.

A print of "Chop Suey" hangs on the wall behind my bed.

I adore Edward Hopper's style.

My second favorite is "Automat.”

[brush]

9. Also "Nighthawks", which came later but his style and subject matter remained consistent.

One of my favorite painters also.

[Stuart G]

21. Nighthawks is linked below. Post 20, and here too... it is link to the picture..

Nighthawks is a 1942 painting by Edward Hopper that portrays people sitting in a downtown diner late at night. It is Hopper's most famous work and is one of the most recognizable paintings in American art. Within months of its completion, it was sold to the Art Institute of Chicago for $3,000, (25,000 in today's money) and has remained there ever since. I would say it is also worth 90 million or more..(I have seen it many times at the Institute)

Link:

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111628/nighthawks

[MineralMan]

36. I've seen it there, too.

A couple of times.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

2. Who says Liberal Arts degrees don't pay off?

Put Art Class back in EVERY school.

[appalachiablue]

16. +5

[brush]

22. Liberal Arts? Maybe Fine Arts if the artist were still alive, or Art Appreciation...

where someone learned enough to buy it early.

[hlthe2b]

3. I've always loved the colors in that piece...

[Docreed2003]

4. Amazing

Hopefully it will be on display for all to enjoy very soon!

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Yes, I appreciate it when wealthy collectors

share their art with museums. The ones who buy masterpieces and keep them in their homes for decades? Not so much.

[TuxedoKat]

5. Wow

Never seen this one before. Beautiful colors indeed! Thanks for sharing.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Now, there's a bubble. NT

[irisblue]

7. The novel, A tree Grows in Brooklyn

Had a section where 2 characters share a meal at a Chop Suey Restaurant, they split the meal, because of the cost. I wonder if Hopper had do w that before painting this.

[Docreed2003]

10. So "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was written about fifteen years after "Chop Suey"

Perhaps that scene in the book was inspired by Hopper's painting?

[irisblue]

11. Or possible memories of being young and hard times

Book was published 1943. War time women working hard and looking at their lives.

Hoppers' wiki mentions hard scrabble times as well, maybe an overlap of life experiences?

The first time I saw the painting, I immediately thought of the book, which is a favorite. It 's an lovely picture.

[Docreed2003]

13. Indeed it is a beautiful painting

I love Hopper's work as much of it seems to capture the "ordinary" in extraordinary ways. My favorite, behind Nighthawks, is called "Gas". It's a simple country gas station, but it captures so much more than that, at least I think so

[irisblue]

14. Looking closely at the picture

Teapot, no cups, both tables. Tea just delievered?

Cloche hats at least on 2 of the 3 women

(Blue) drop earrings on the front facing woman.

This, for me, narrows the 'memory time' to first half of the '20s.

I took a threater costume & make up class, I still get the 'twitches' from those classes.

[CTyankee]

37. That picture is a treasure. It memorializes a time in America when those old gas pumps existed.

I remember them...

[Docreed2003]

38. My grandfather had a similar "country store" with gas pumps

[Aristus]

12. Edward Hopper is, hands down, my favorite American artist.

'Chop Suey' has always impressed me with its vivid colors (which bring the 1920's to life in a way that grainy, muddy, black-and-white photos never could), and the tantalizing need to know what the subjects are talking about.

There's alway an incredible sense of mystery regarding the lives of the people who appear in his paintings.

And his landscapes, almost always devoid of people, convey an inexpressible sense of loneliness.

A few of my favorites:

Office In A Small City



Boy And Moon



Cape Cod Morning

[brush]

23. You sure "Boy and Moon" is by Harper?

That looks like an illustration for a print magazine, not a painting in Hopper's style.

[Aristus]

24. It's a Hopper, all right.

It's an early illustration that entered his catalogue without a date of publication. One critic called it a fascinating early example of Hopper's technique of creating abrupt transitions between interior and exterior spaces.

[Docreed2003]

39. One correction...I believe your last one is titled "Corn Hill"

This is Cape Cod Morning:

[Aristus]

40. Thank you.

I went with the first title that occurred to me off the top of my head.

[Docreed2003]

41. No problem!

They are both on Cape Cod!!

[GumboYaYa]

15. We previewed the sale at Christies last weekend.

It is a great free way to see some amazing art. The painting is stunning in person.

[Mosby]

17. How big is it, appx?

[GumboYaYa]

18. It is not that big for such a monumental work.

Like 3' by 3' approximately, but not square it is a bit longer vertically than wide.

[Stuart G]

19. K and R...92 million???????

[Stuart G]

20. "Nighthawks" Chicago Art Institute..I've seen it many times..hit link, (incredible picture)

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111628/nighthawks

Strangers in a brightly lit diner, seen from shadowy exterior..(I was unable to post..picture at link)
maybe someone can post it? Chicago Art Institute bought it for $3000 soon after it was painted.
(about 25,000 in today's money) This was then exhibited in Chicago and has stayed there since.. Yes, it is also worth $90,000,000...one of his most famous paintings..If not his most famous.

It is a beautiful picture, but lonely and intense

[Aristus]

25. People will be marveling at 'Night Hawks' for the next thousand years.

Critics call it a statement about urban loneliness and alienation. But I never saw it that way. I saw the bright light as a beacon of warmth and safety. And the 'night hawks'? The representatives of urban ennui and isolation? I saw them as companionable strangers, sharing some time and space together after a late-night event. The white-capped attendant, keeping busy behind the counter? He has to stay open anyway. He's probably grateful for the company.

[Stuart G]

26. Yes, I see your point..

Here these people are on a lonely street, together for a moment, quietly and peacefully. As you say above..

".....companionable strangers sharing some time and space together after a late-night event. The white-capped attendant, keeping busy behind the counter? He has to stay open anyway. He's probably grateful for the company. "

Thank you for the interpretation..next time I see it live, I will think of your ideas on it..

[Aristus]

30. There was one interpretation I found rather amusing.

The fedora-ed gentleman and his ladyfriend are actually criminals, and are planning on knocking over the store across the street, the cash register of which is visible in the window.

I thought that was a bit much.

[CTyankee]

32. Yes, I know that interpretation and I see the logic...

but Hopper has said that he saw it in terms of alienation...

[Aristus]

34. That's fine. It's his painting.

Someone once pointed out: have you noticed that there is no visible exit? Either from the diner, or even from behind the counter? They're trapped in there!

[CTyankee]

35. When I wrote my essay on this work I titled it "No Exit."

I published it here on DU several years ago...

[badhair77]

27. I haven't seen this painting in forever.

I love the colors and the light from the windows. Now I need to go back through Hopper’s work.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

28. Hopper estate's take -- zero.

You would never see a film's executive producer be forced to give up all rights to his work product once it's completed, but that's the way it is for artists.

[kwassa]

29. I saw this Hopper at the Whitney ...

the newish museum in the meatpacking district of lower Manhattan. Despite the futuristic museum, the next block over still looks a lot like this painting.

[CTyankee]

31. This is a marvelous painting. The colors are just exciting and wonderful.

For the color alone, I vote this Hopper's best, even over "Nighthawks" that has other reasons to rate it best.

Well, I could go on but thank you Don Viejo for posting this...

[lagomorph777]

33. Now we see where Trump's Billionaire Tax Cut is being invested.

In hard-working American workers such as Edward Hopper. Who's been dead since 1967.

[Blue_Tires]

42. I don't get it? What makes it so great?

[maxsolomon]

43. The owner had promised it to the Seattle Art Museum along with 65 works in his collection

Then welched on the entire deal before his death.

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/multimillion-dollar-art-collection-once-promised-to-sam-now-up-for-auction-at-christies/