Rocks and Shore 1919

Edward Hopper made "Rocks and Shore" with oil on panel, and I like how you can really see the process. It feels like he was right there, wrestling with the paint to capture something immediate. The material quality of this piece is pretty interesting. The paint is applied so thickly, especially in the foreground. You can see the individual strokes, almost like he’s sculpting the rocks with the brush. Look at the way he layers the dark blues and blacks to create depth and shadow, and then BAM, a sudden burst of yellow highlights peeking through. It's like a little jolt of energy. I see a similarity with some of the work of Fairfield Porter; both had this way of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, using paint to explore the emotional weight of a scene. Ultimately, art is like a big, ongoing conversation, and Hopper is definitely one of the more interesting voices.