Nighthawks, painting by Edward Hopper completed in 1942, and one of the most immediately recognizable works of all of American art.
In Nighthawks, curved geometric forms accentuated by an Art Deco facade and angular light provide an almost theatrical setting for a group of insulated and isolated figures. The Phillies cigars advertisement on top of the diner shows this is not an upmarket location, since Phillies was a brand of American-made popular, cheap cigars commonly sold at grocery stores and gas stations. The “nighthawks” depicted in the painting are bathed in an oasis of fluorescent light in an all-night diner in a film noir setting worthy of Raymond Chandler.
Hopper’s expressive use of artificial light playing upon the simplified shapes gives the painting its beauty. At greatest distance from the viewer, a couple sits with blank looks on their faces as a server busies himself behind the counter. The couple’s hands almost touch, but neither of them looks happy. That tableau makes the solitary diner across the counter (whom Hopper modeled after himself), with his back to the viewer, look even more conspicuous. The entire composition stands against the darkened street outside—darkened because the city beyond the diner is under blackout for fear of attack at the very beginning of World War II, which may be a source of the angst apparent on the faces of the couple.
Hopper claimed that the street itself wasn’t particularly lonely but that “unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.” Certainly the proximity of four figures who seem not to be engaging with one another suggests that alienation. In any event, there is no visible diner’s entrance; the viewer is shut out from the scene, making it more intriguing. The diner itself was inspired by one in Greenwich Village, in New York City, where Hopper lived for 54 years. Hopper’s practice was to make sketches while he was out and about in New York and then return to his studio and sketch a combination of poses together with his wife, Josephine, whom he used as the model for the redheaded woman in this painting.
Nighthawks has become one of the iconic American images of the 20th century. It is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it is one of the most visited of the thousands of artworks on display.