As a youth, Hopper haunted the shipyards along the lower Hudson River near his hometown of
Nyack and dreamed of becoming a naval architect. His lifelong fascination with sailing and the
sea provided a subject to which Hopper consistently returned throughout his career as a
painter.
The artist began his formal studies in 1899 at the New York School of Art under
William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri, founder of the renowned Ash Can school. After
spending a year in Paris, Hopper returned to the United States in 1907. Achieving very limited
success with his paintings, he began working as a commercial artist to support himself. His
relationship and subsequent marriage to fellow artist Josephine Nivision in the 1920s
corresponded with an upswing in his career.
Beginning in 1921, Hopper's paintings caught the attention of leading critics and
dealers and he swiftly rose to the status of America's foremost realist. Hopper described his
work as "an art based on the American scene." His evocative canvases confront the viewer with
images of isolation and alienation that echoed Hopper's own introspective leanings and his
frequent bouts with depression. "Nighthawks," one of Hopper's best known works, has become
an icon of American culture appearing on coffee mugs and T-shirts.
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