The Barber Shop 1931

Edward Hopper's ‘The Barber Shop’ is a large-scale oil painting in which light and shadow carve out a quiet, contemplative interior. I imagine Hopper building up this scene, tweaking the angles, and adjusting the light to create this uncanny space. It is a world where the familiar becomes slightly alienating. Look at the woman reading, almost caught in the crosshairs of the light, and then over to the barber, eternally frozen in his task. The paint is applied in a way that feels both deliberate and restrained. It reminds me of the Ashcan School of painting, in the way that it depicts a quiet, urban scene. The use of light and shadow, though, is particularly striking. Hopper always seems to find these moments of stillness within the everyday. He helps us to think about what painting can do and how it captures a mood, a feeling, or even just a sliver of time. His paintings invite us to slow down and look closely, to notice the beauty and mystery in the ordinary.