Interior (Model Reading) 1925

Edward Hopper created this painting of a woman reading, Interior (Model Reading), with oil on canvas. Isn’t it interesting how Hopper is so good at capturing a quiet moment, a sense of solitude and contemplation? The colors are muted, with a focus on light and shadow to create a sense of depth, and the paint is applied thinly. I find myself drawn to the woman's form. See how Hopper captures the way the light hits her skin and how the soft curves of her back and shoulders are articulated with such sensitivity? The brushstrokes around her body are soft and blurred, almost like a watercolor wash, which gives her a delicate and ethereal quality. Hopper’s use of light and shadow is reminiscent of the Old Masters, like Rembrandt, but his subject matter, the everyday lives of ordinary people, is entirely modern. Like Fairfield Porter, Hopper was interested in exploring the beauty and complexity of the mundane.