Scenes from ordinary American urban life are an aspect of Edward Hopper paintings. Scenes show rather detached human figures in a city setting communicating weakly with one another in a superficial way. The pictures are realistic but show only the essential features of the people and places.
Hopper is often concerned with the effects of light or the outline of buildings or furniture. Harsh light and bold lines often serve to increase the sense of loneliness and sometimes introduce a sense of menace into a painting.
This general effect of desolation surrounds the people in the paintings as well as the rooms and interiors they inhabit. The contrasts of light and darkness increase the lonely effect and there is often a contrast between glaring bar lights and the darkness outside.
Another aspect of these works is the vulnerability of the human figures that often seem lost and helpless in the night. The viewpoint of the person looking at the painting could also be the viewpoint of someone who is viewing the scene with sinister or criminal motives.
In Edward Hopper Nighthawks all the typical features of a Hopper scene are present. The bar in which the human subjects are sitting is lit brightly and the large windows allow the scene inside to be watched from the street, which is the viewpoint of the person viewing the painting. The whole scene is one of desolation and discouragement.
There is also a rather threatening feel to the scene because the figures appear very vulnerable. The bar can be clearly seen from the street and gives something of a goldfish bowl effect, allowing anyone outside in the street, whatever their motives, to study the people in the bar.
In another painting by Hopper called Automat a woman is shown drinking tea or coffee in a restaurant against the background of darkness outside the window. The dark combined with the winter clothes of the subject give a cold feeling to the scene. The lights of the restaurant are shown as a reflection in the window, moving out into the darkness outside.
The very bright restaurant contrasts with the darkness outside and highlights the loneliness of that pensive figure sitting at the table. There is a stark contrast between the lit interior and the night outside which again makes the human subject of this painting appear vulnerable.
A painting with the title Chop Suey is a picture set in the daytime in a restaurant. Two women dressed in clothes that are quite similar sit at a table opposite each other. There are other patrons in the establishment but these two figures appear rather isolated at their table by the window. The sunlight falls on the scene in a way that does not lighten the depressing mood.
A number of scenes from daily life such as restaurants, hotels and offices are shown in Edward Hopper paintings and emphasize the loneliness of urban twentieth century life. The monotony of city life and the weak interaction between the people give an impression of the darker side of American social life from the last century.
