Rooms for Tourists

Edward Hopper made "Rooms for Tourists," sometime around now, with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is how he builds the scene with these rectangles of light. There is a kind of geometric discipline at play, but he lets it all dissolve in the mood. Look at the way the surface is built up, thick and opaque. The dark shades of green and brown are dragged, with visible brushstrokes. Hopper builds the world from these basic shapes, from dark to light, from shadow to the warm interior. My eye keeps getting drawn back to the brightest rectangle at the front of the house, with the warm glow from within. It could be a stage set, with a dark void behind it. It's like he's painted loneliness itself, but in such a way that you can almost feel the quiet hum of life inside. This reminds me of Fairfield Porter, in that both artists had the ability to imbue simple domestic scenes with a sense of profound human experience. What is this place, what is this feeling? Hopper leaves it open for us to dream.