Freight Car at Truro 1931

Edward Hopper made this watercolor called Freight Car at Truro, but we're not sure exactly when. Look at the way he lays down those washes of red and brown, almost like stains soaking into the paper. You can see the process, the decisions he’s making as he goes. The physical quality of this work is really striking. The paint is thin, transparent in places, letting the white of the paper shine through, and the textures that emerge give the scene its melancholic charm. There's a dark, almost brutal smudge of pigment under the train that anchors it to the scene and gives it the sense of stillness. Hopper reminds me a little of Giorgio Morandi, in that he’s able to find something quietly powerful in the most ordinary scenes. Art is always this conversation across time, where ideas get reworked and reimagined. It’s all open to interpretation, you know?