This fall, the Whitney Museum of Art will present "New York," an exhibition of works by Edward Hopper (1882-1967). The famous American realist painter lived in New York for nearly 60 years, a period of rapid urbanization. Hopper's works do not focus on the development of the city; he does not depict the rising of tall buildings, but rather on the life of people in the society at that time, showing a human-centered social scene.

This exhibition is not only about the artist, but also about the city of New York. Edward Hopper's works will be exhibited in chronological order, from drawings, prints, to later oil paintings. These creations show New York from the artist's perspective. Also covered in the exhibition will be short stories and letters printed by the Sanborn Hopper Archive, as well as periodical photographs that complement Hopper's work and that have influenced his insights into the city of New York.

Hopper is also known as a representative of the Garbage Pail School, one of the few realists in an era when expressionism and abstraction were hugely popular, and an idealist in the realist school of painting. His paintings are solitary. As the artist himself recalls, he has been less concerned with the development of the urban vertical. He once said, "American situational painters are exaggeratingly parodying the reality of American life, but I just want to be myself." His paintings seem to spectate the people living quietly in the city.

Born in 1882 to a wealthy family in the town of Naija, N.Y., Hopper showed a talent for drawing at the age of five, and his sketches at age 10 already exuded the light and shadow texture of later images. Hopper studied at the New York School of Art and Design, where he was mentored in oil painting by William Merritt Chase. A major influence on Hopper's style was his life drawing teacher, Robert Henry, who was an early promoter of urban realism in the United States and encouraged his students to incorporate modernity into their paintings and to "cause a stir in the world" with their art.

After graduating, Hopper worked in commercial illustration. At the same time, he traveled to Europe three times to study. In Europe, Hopper was struck by Rembrandt's Night Watch, which he described as the most perfect painting he had ever seen, transcending reality. At the same time, these three trips to Europe also allowed Hopper to be influenced by the works of Edouard Monet and Edgar Degas. Despite their differences in style, they prompted Hopper to seek his own style of painting.

In 1923, Hopper reunited with Josephine Nivison, a fellow Robert Henri student, and they married a year later. 1925 saw the creation of House by the Railroad. This classic of American art, depicting a solitary Victorian log cabin with its base hidden by the railroad tracks in front of it, marked the maturation of Hopper's art and the beginning of a series of silent urban paintings by the artist.

Hopper was very prolific during the 1930s and early 1940s, and several of his major works were produced during this period. New York Movie, created in 1939, is a mixed-media work featuring Hopper's wife Joseph, the woman on the right. Joseph served as a model for many of Hopper's works.

Nighthawks, created in 1942, is one of Hopper's masterpieces depicting American life. The scene shows three lonely customers sitting around a 24-hour restaurant, their faces silent. The restaurant is brightly lit, reflecting the lateness of the night. The geometric shape of the restaurant is distinguished from the empty street by sharp lines, and the incandescent light enhances the contrast between the inside and outside of the restaurant. The incandescent light enhances the contrast between the inside and outside of the restaurant, allowing the viewer to focus on the inside of the house and try to explore the story of the people in the painting.

In addition, Hopper's paintings on the theme of New England countryside scenes are also highly representative. Among them, Gas, created in 1940, is a representative work. This work represents a shelter to help people traveling at night. The work combines several of Hopper's themes: the solitary figure, the melancholy twilight, and the untouched path.

In addition to everyday life, another theme in Hopper's work is landscape. In 1951, Hopper experimented with the surrealist style in Rooms by the Sea. In 1967, Hopper died in his New York City studio, and his wife died ten months later. Hopper wrote this eulogy to himself, "The room is empty, but the sun still shines, and my departure has changed nothing in the world."

Although Hopper is best known for his oil paintings, he first gained worldwide recognition for his watercolors, and his prints were a commercial success. He kept high-quality sketches in his notebooks.

Hopper was a painter of the same period as Picasso, but he was not influenced by the prevailing Cubism of the time, but was determined to find his own artistic path. Hopper was very good at depicting light and shadow, shaping his images with contrasting, colorful light and shadow. Hopper paid great attention to the geometric design of his images, and his images maintain a proper sense of balance between the figure and the environment.

There is no doubt that this great artist had a profound influence on the art world. Artists such as Willem de Kooning, Jim Dine and Mar k Rothko have all been influenced by Hopper. Not only that, but Hopper's cinematic compositions and dramatic use of light have made him a favorite of filmmakers, such as Alfred Hitchcock, whose iconic house in Psycho references Hopper's House by the Railroad. Ridley Scott was also inspired by Nighthawks when he made Blade Runner.

Reluctant to talk about himself and his art, Hopper simply says, "The answer is on the canvas." The artist maintains a conservative approach to political and social matters, accepting things as they are. As critic Lloyd Goodrich called it, Hopper is "a brilliant local artist who brings more American qualities to the canvas than anyone else."

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