I will use visual analysis to back up my interpretation of Hopper’s Nighthawks. Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks is fairly simple, illustrating a snapshot of a moment in time at a late-night diner in the city, and yet, it speaks volumes. The painting’s well-lit diner sits on an empty street corner, featuring four figures within. While this succinctly describes the painting, upon a deeper examination, one realizes Hopper utilizes an assortment of artistic techniques in order to convey the full emotion of the scene. In Nighthawks, Edward Hopper’s treatment of line elements and organization of forms in the painting both directs movement and builds tension and a sense of instability, resulting in a mysterious object onto which one can project one’s own reality. In addition, Hopper employs areas of light and contrasting colors as a means of constructing the scene that captures the mood of alienation and conveys a sense of timelessness.
First, the piece is separated into two different sections; the right side of the work is accentuated due to Hopper’s conduct of line elements and containment of the most activity in terms of subject matter. Visually, Nighthawks consists of dark zig-zagging bands of negative space that underscore the bright portions of positive space. The diagonal lines in the two buildings point to two different vanishing points, signifying a tension in the scene. Because of this, the painting fails to contain the standard formal aspects of one or two-point perspective; each building claims its own vanishing point, but they do not seem to lie on the same horizon line. The lines themselves lend to the feeling of tension. Despite the aura of isolation, commonly depicted with choppy lines, all of the lines are long and clear, painted confidently. The most prominent lines include those outlining the bar and the bottom of the front of the diner, yet again returning to the notion of tension. They draw the eye to the figures while simultaneously leading away from them, almost as if Hopper desires for them to be perceived, but not focused on.
Moreover, the long, insistent diagonal of the diner, commencing from the right side of the painting, leads the eye to the empty street sweeping in from the left, which ultimately turns the viewer’s attention right again, to the red-haired lady in the red dress sitting at the bar. These implied lines establish the focal point and movement in the painting. The observers’ focus is directed towards the lady, but the point on which the composition hinges rests elsewhere. While the woman serves as the focal point, the plane of the street which crosses the plane of the diner, an area defined by the light grey ray in the corner, is where the picture emerges from. This particular framework in which the woman is separated from the compositional center unnervingly introduces a sense of instability, further emphasizing her isolation and contributing to Nighthawks’s overall stark sentiment of seclusion.
Additionally, the positioning of the viewer as well as the organization of the forms contribute to the tense solitude and ambiguity of the scene that permits him to insert his own interpretation. The painting’s size, 2.75 feet by 5 feet, allows one to comfortably peer into the work, neither overwhelming his space nor losing himself in it. Hopper sets the scene on a corner isolated from the rest of the city and surrounds the diner with glass, creating an internal frame within a frame and granting viewers a window into the inside from the viewpoint of a passerby outside the diner. Despite the immediate accessibility of the subject matter, Hopper manages to distance the viewer from the four figures framed within the diner. He chooses a selective angle for the point of view, one that excludes any sight of an entryway; thus, onlookers can observe the scene at their leisure but are barred from entering, and accordingly, the four subjects appear trapped within the glass walls, specimens of the viewer’s imagination.
The interactions, or otherwise lack of, forge a narrative rife with possibilities. The man and woman in the background hunch over the cherry wood counter, their faces gaunt. The woman examines her fingernails, seemingly oblivious to the man next to her. The man in the foreground sits apart from the rest, a mystery with his back turned and partially obscured from the light. The waiter links them, appearing trapped within the confines of the counter. Even within a shared space, the characters do not touch. Though they sit together, they are still alone. Viewers are left to wonder about the character’s lives, pointing at its timeless quality. The scene depicted is evocative and endures through time by conjuring the imagination and invoking feelings that people will always be able to relate to based upon their subjective experience.
Finally, Hopper’s use of contrasting colors and areas of light helps him capture the bleak mood and timeless significance. Tension between light and shadow, specifically the contrast of the mute colors of night and harsh fluorescent glare of the diner lights, marks a dark mood and immediately guides the eyes in the composition. The street’s murky browns and deep blues hint at an undercurrent of desperation. The richest, most distinctive color is the red of the woman’s lips, dress, and hair, directing the viewers’ attention and further confirming her as the focal point. Despite this emphasis, nobody in the painting looks at her, adding to the sense of unease. The colors echo one another more intently the further from the woman they are. For instance, the man at the edge of the bar wears clothing with colors that closely resemble the darker shades outside the diner. Hopper’s use of color illustrates the desire for separation from the darkness because the people are clustered in the light, but they are incapable of achieving this since the colors from the outside world echo those within the diner. Though most of the painting is muted, the select times of bright colors contrast with the muted tone to create the controlled dynamic tension so integral to the painting’s ambiguity, meaning, and ambiance.
Hopper meticulously crafted Nighthawks paying close attention to organization of forms, colors, lines, and other elements in order to connect the audience with the situation in the painting and realistically portray the atmosphere of alienation associated with it. This atmosphere in itself frees viewers to interpret the work based upon their own realities and renders the piece timeless, an unmistakable work relatable to by anybody.
