Soir Bleu

Have you ever seen a more mismatched group of people?! This is 'Soir Bleu', an oil painting completed by the American artist Edward Hopper in 1914. It was painted a year after Hopper returned to New York from Paris. It's now housed in the Whitney Museum of American Art, where it captivates and bewilders viewers. Here, Hopper depicts seven individuals in a cafe terrace. By choosing an outdoor terrace as the backdrop for this scene, Hopper encourages us to recognise it as a representation of Parisian cafe culture. ☕️ So, who are these figures? According to art historians, the man at the far left of the canvas (wearing a cap and smoking a cigarette) is a pimp. The only standing figure in the work, a pale woman in green, may be a prostitute who is closely watching the inhabitants of the cafe. To the woman's right is perhaps the strangest figure... a circus performer, dressed in an elaborate Pierrot (clown) costume. His face is painted completely white, with red diamonds to highlight his eyes and shocking red lipstick. Yet this is no comedy character. The clown gazes downward, exuding a sense of melancholy and weariness. He holds a cigarette in his mouth. Some critics have suggested that the clown might be a self-portrait of Hopper, who often spoke of feeling misunderstood. 🤡 The remaining figures represent the Parisian bourgeois class. They are all dressed in expensive fashions. The suited man on the far right of the painting looks towards the clown in interest, or perhaps confusion. But the clown, deep in thought, does not meet his eye. 👁️ These seven figures might share a single space, yet they feel separate and disconnected. It's a peculiar and bizarre work that forces us to adopt the perspective of an outsider.