Solitude, Loneliness and Edward Hopper's Message

Art and passion for life evolve in solitude. Creativity needs alone time for the unconscious to digest the data life delivers to humans. But, aloneness can lead to loneliness. William Wordsworh Longfellow wrote: And in solitude, alone / Hath the Beloved guided her, / In solitude also wounded with love... " Stanza XXXV - St John of the Cross

Accordingly, who else Yet Edward Hopper can portray this loneliness in his art?

Hopper's paintings impressed me when I was in my teens; decades later, they nevertheless do. Hopper's stark photos invade the thoughts and linger in it forever, due to the fact his brush strokes hint at a mood of aloneness amongst strangers, a human suffering, a mystery of sadness, and possibly, an unexplained secrecy. To appear at a Hopper painting is to learn some dark feeling within oneself.

Hopper's planet may well appear unique than ours, Yet it is additional ours than we count on. Possibly the scenes in the 1st half of the twentieth century did appear really like the way Hopper painted them. Nevertheless, the persons in these scenes look to be disconnected, as opposed to that of some other painters of the era. No automobiles are there in Hopper's empty streets, However the aloneness of the persons and a feel of surreal absence filter by way of the viewer's vision in just about just about every painting of his.

Hopper does not inform a story However paints a moment, a moment that incorporates loneliness, isolation, and a spell of the dark. In "Automat," a lady sits by herself, brooding. The window behind her shows practically nothing from the outdoors, except it reflects the twin rows of ceiling lights. It does not reflect something from the interior, not even the lady. If what the window reflects is what the painting reflects, nothingness exists in the lady's isolation.

Even when there is far more than one figure in a Hopper painting, the folks look as if they are sealed away from just about every other. Within "Area in New York," the man reads the paper, and the lady--her back turned to him--touches the piano keys with one hand. They are each confined inside themselves as if the other one did not exist. An exciting point is that the central concentrate in the painting is the door involving them, which is shut.

Perpetual aloneness suggests a deep worry of rejection or desertion that causes loneliness; it is this loneliness that penetrates Hopper's operate. As Lord Byron wrote, However midst the crowd, the hurry, the shock of men, / To hear, to see, to feel and to possess, / And roam alone, the planet's tired denizen, / With none who bless us, none whom we can bless.

Solitude protects the self and uplifts it to a larger plane of sensitivity. Individuals who meditate, monks, artists, writers, and musicians need their aloneness to build. However, we need to no cost ourselves from the adverse side of solitude, the painful feelings of loneliness. I think that was Edward Hopper's message.

Joy Cagil is an author on http://www.Writing.Com, which is a web page for Inventive Writing.

Joy Cagil's education is in linguistics, psychology, arts, and humanities.