Nighthawks Formal Analysis

The oil canvas artwork, Nighthawks, created by Edward Hopper shows four people in an old diner to the right of the artwork. The diner has the word “Phillies” written across the top, beneath the sign is where you see through the long, glass windows into the diner. There is a man sitting on the very far left of the bar, isolated from the worker and the man and woman who appear to be a couple. The lonely man is wearing a dark blue coat and a hat, but you can only see him from behind. The woman appears to have red-hair, a ruby red dress on, and red lipstick. The man to “her” right appears to be wearing a blue coat, a light blue hat, and is leaning against the bar. The couple seems to be communicating with the worker who seems to be preparing food or a drink for the couple. The bright, fluorescent lights in the diner set of an eerie look in the empty street to the left of the diner.

In the artwork, the element of complimentary colors stands out. Located in the background space where the lines from top of the diner runs into the windows of the building in the background, the top of the building is a burnt orange color while beneath the building it is a dark teal/blue color. The bar inside the diner appears to be a brownish-orange color while the

From the detail in Hopper’s artwork with how the people are dressed in the dinner and the bright fluorescent lights, the painting possibly takes place in the 1940s, Nighthawks, 1942. Edward Hopper was born, 1882, in Nyack, New York. He transition from illustration to fine arts, he studied Robert Henri, an American Impressionist painter. Hopper struggled to become known in the 1910s, his painting, Sailing, was represented in 1911; Carnegie Museum of Art. By 1933, Hopper received recognition for his more modern art. In 1952, Hopper’s art was displayed in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Edward Hopper passed away in 1967 and was an influence to realist