Nighthawks

Rachel Zitting
Kathy Cowley
12 October 2010
Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks

On a choir trip to Chicago this past spring, I had the opportunity to visit the Art Institute of Chicago. I didn’t think much of this event until we showed up at the huge museum, which was filled with pieces by many great artists, sculptors, and architects. One of my favorite pieces was Edward Hopper’s piece entitled Nighthawks.

When first viewed, the artwork seems slightly like a Norman Rockwell, just with a heavier tone. I had bought a print of this piece about a year before, and it hung in my room. I bought it on a whim, not really knowing its meaning. When I saw the piece in the Art Institute, I stared at it for five whole minutes. That’s a long time, for me. I read the background information and was amazed I had never looked at it in that certain light before. Nighthawks is a painting of four individuals inside a brightly lit restaurant in the 1940s in the middle of a city. Two of them are there together, one is the counter boy, and another is a lone man.

What is most interesting about this painting, for me, is the fact that the restaurant has no door. The people look like they may be trapped inside, not knowing it. Also the title adds to the mysteriousness of the painting. The term Nighthawks sounds slightly scary, like someone is looming. All of the subjects look like they may be the ‘nighthawk’ because they all look suspicious and alienated.

Hopper also incorporates many types of contrast in his piece. The light of the restaurant contrasts the darkness outside. The old-fashioned cash register contrasts the new fluorescent lights of the time period. Also, the horizontal shape of the diner contrasts the vertical buildings in the background.