Edward Hopper: embrace the solitude

[Aristus]

3. Embracing the solitude. That describes it perfectly.

For all that critics charge Hopper's paintings with feelings of isolation, alienation, loneliness, lack of fulfilment, urban ennui, etc, I just always equated them with (mostly) pleasant solitude.

His most famous painting, "Night Hawks", is constantly described as a pastiche of urban isolation and emotional detachment,. living life surrounded daily by millions of total strangers you will never know personally. I initially, and still to some degree today, saw the work as a moment frozen in time, a bright oasis of light, warmth, and uncomplicated companionship in a dark deserted city neighborhood. Why Hopper's painting fill others with foreboding, I'll never know; I always feel calm and relaxed when looking at them.