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Getting some gas in the twilight zone with Edward Hopper
While this might look like that all-american 40s/50s gas station around the corner it is not. Or maybe it is, who knows? Hopper claims this was totally improvised and it isn’t based on any gas station in particular. But we’ve all learned a lesson or two from Matt Groenig lying to us that Springfield was to represent “anytown” and then it turns out Springfield actually is real!
Edward’s wife Jo wrote about the painting in a letter to Edwards sister Marion: “Ed is about to start a canvas - the effect of night on a gasoline station…” Well if eerie was what he was going for, he nailed it. I’d say there are three subjects Ed likes to cover, solitary people, melancholy and the lonely road. Gas has all three of ‘em! Yet, it’s kind of confusing. The guy doesn't look like he works at the gas farm. I mean, aren’t those guys supposed to wear grease stained overalls instead of a three-piece suit? So what is he doing all alone, at a gas station, without a car, at the edge of a forest? No but really, since our view is blocked, what IS he doing?
Edward is known for recycling his cast. This guy looks a lot like the older version of the the well-dressed theater-goer in Two on the Isle, painted in 1927. Yet, he also looks like a younger version of the guy in Four Lane Road, painted in 1956...
Also, are those bushes on fire? Is this purgatory? What is this?
Sources
Sources
- http://www.edwardhopper.net/gas.jsp
- http://www.theartstory.org/artist-hopper-edward-artworks.htm
- Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography, Alfred, (New York: Knopf, New York, 1995)
- Robert Carleto Hibbs and Edward Hopper, Edward Hopper, (New York: Smithsonian, 1987)
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Here is what Wikipedia says about Gas (Hopper)
Gas is an oil painting executed in 1940 by the American painter Edward Hopper. It depicts an American gas station at the end of a highway. The painting belongs to the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.
Check out the full Wikipedia article about Gas (Hopper)
While I agree that this painting may be eerie, I believe there is a lot more to it. Night can be many things to different people especially at mundane places like a gas station and Edward Hopper has captured this perfectly. There is a beauty to the lonely man and the gas station being the only source of light. The use of color of the gas station versus the nature surrounding allows the painting to have an extremely mystical feel, especially for a gas station. While the composition, because it is in thirds, allows the viewers' eyes to be drawn right to the lonely man. Overall, a great piece for the viewers' imagination to take flight.