Palazzo Reale in Milan hosts 160 artworks of Edward Hopper between October 14, 2009 to January 31, 2010.  Visitors will have a chance to see his effort in creating his famous pieces by viewing his sketches as well as his sketchbook.  There is also an installation art called ‘August 29, 1952, 6 a.m. New York” by Austrian video artist Gustav Deutsch where it is possible to be a part of Hopper’s “Morning Sun” work.

American painter and printmaker Edward Hopper’s composition and lighting techniques have inspired scenes in movies of David lynch, Alfred Hitchcock, Terrence Malik, Wim Wenders, Dario Argento and Ridley Scott. No matter how crowded his scenes are there is always the sensation of loneliness in his work.

Hopper was born in New York in 1882 and from his childhood he was always interested in art.  He studied in New York Institute of Art and Design and then went to Paris for a while.  He has said that he wasn’t that much affected by Paris although later he acknowledged America seemed to him raw.  In Paris he saw closeness in his work with Baudelaire’s poems where both analyze in depth the concept of solitude.

He didn’t love talking about his art and it is said that he was an introverted person.  He was not interested in being part of an art period, what he wanted was to catch the perfect lightning and scenes from real life although there is symbolism in his works.  Great depression of 1920s in America and Hopper’s character shows their effects in his paintings.

In the exhibition there are seven chronological and thematically sections where most of the works have been brought from Whitney Museum in New York.   In the sections, the visitors can see works of his auto-portraits, first works and illustrations, his period in Paris, his engravings, from his sketches to his paintings,  his view on eroticism and works about American daily life.

His palette has changed from light colors to dark and then back to light again.  He has used color as the main source for displaying emotions.  Although he is a realist painter, he uses soft colors and less detail.

After Milan, this exhibition will take place in Rome (16 February – 13 June 2010)  and then in Lausanne (24 June – 17 October 2010).

Photography by cory mcburnett of Edward’s original painting.