Every picture he's painted has this romantic sense of loneliness. The woman in her hat in the coffee shop in in Automat; the man thinking about his life with a semi-clad woman lying next to him with a book open in Excursion Into Philosophy; the woman reading the note in Hotel Room. Even in the ones where there are two people you can tell that things aren't right. There's an overwhelming sense of boredom and monotony in Chop Suey, Summer Evening and even Nighthawks. Much has been written about Nighthawks. I love it obviously, but there's deeper meaning in other paintings.
Take Excursion In Philosophy. Whose house is it? Is it either of their houses? Has he just slept with a prostitute and is now wracked with guilt, with her on the other hand oblivious as it's all in a days work? Has he just read an amazing passage in the book which is making him question his life? Even on a summer's day with a beautiful woman next to him, he is not happy. His life has not turned out how he wanted it to. He is about to leave before she wakes up. He has dressed, open the windows and read from his book all before she wakes. The feeling you have after a one night stand is not dissimilar. If only I had had a book with me.
The overall feeling I get from Hopper is that no matter who is in the pictures, you feel their solitude and you want to take them away from the hurt; show them something different and better. But can you? After all, your different and better could just be another exercise in loneliness for these characters.
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