Above: Click to view our video from the experience. Music soundtrack: Brad Mehldau’s “John Boy” from Highway Rider.

For Edward Hopper, New York was a city that existed in the mind as well as on the map, a place that took shape through lived experience, memory, and the collective imagination. It was, he reflected late in life, “the American city that I know best and like most.” Edward Hopper’s New York is now on exhbiit at the Whitney Museum in New York City through March 5, 2023 and it’s highly recommended. From early impressions in sketches, prints, and illustrations to iconic late paintings, this exhibition brings Hopper’s evocative portrayals of the urban experience to life.

Hopper has many qualities to be admired: he derived his subject matter from two primary sources: one, the common features of American life (gas stations, motels, restaurants, theaters, railroads, and street scenes) and its inhabitants; and two, seascapes and rural landscapes. Most of Hopper's figure paintings focus on the subtle interaction of human beings with their environment—carried out with solo figures, couples, or groups. His primary emotional themes are solitude, loneliness, regret, boredom, and resignation. He expresses the emotions in various environments, including the office, in public places, in apartments, on the road, or on vacation.

His work was also very graphic and this simplicity is inspiring for graphic designers. Simplicity is the discipline of minimizing, refining or editing back a design. The ultimate goal of any piece of graphic design is to make an impression. If a design achieves this goal, it will be fulfilling its purpose of communicating and insisting upon a particular message. Simplicity is always a goal for our designs because it makes for a more superior and satisfying user experience.

“Edward Hopper’s New York” at the Whitney Museum in New York City is on exhibit through March 5, 2023