Rooms By The Sea 1951

Edward Hopper made "Rooms By The Sea" with oil on canvas. Wow, Hopper! Those hard, brutal, geometrical slabs of light... The way he lays down color! I imagine him in a white clapboard house, peering out at the sea, thinking about how to make the indoor and outdoor meet. It's like he’s asking "How do I paint this?", and that question becomes the painting. You know, the way the cool blues of the ocean crash into the warm, muted tones of the room creates this strange tension. You're pulled in, but also kept at a distance. It’s a surface thing, but emotional too; a feeling of standing in the threshold of something unknown. That sharp, triangular shadow slicing across the wall, like the blade of a knife... Makes you feel nervous! There is so much space in between things, and a silence that feels full of anticipation. You know, painting is like an ongoing conversation, right? Hopper was definitely listening in and adding his own voice.