Hotel Lobby

Hotel Lobby
hopper_hotel_lobby
Artist Edward Hopper
Year 1943
Medium Oil on canvas
Location Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA
Dimensions 32 1⁄4 in × 40 3⁄4 in
81.9 cm × 103.5 cm
Edward Hopper Famous Paintings
Nighthawks, 1942
Automat, 1927
Early Sunday Morning, 1930
Room in New York, 1932
Hotel Lobby, 1943
Chop Suey, 1929
Office at Night, 1940
Office in a Small City, 1953
Girl at Sewing Machine, 1921
Complete Works

Hotel Lobby is an oil painting done on a canvas, which was created by the American realist painter. It shows two women in the main lobby. The woman on the right is in a blue dress, seated with her legs crossed; the woman on the left is an older woman, in a red coat, and a hat. In front of the older woman is a gentleman that is standing, holding an overcoat in his arm. A framed landscape painting is on the left hand side above the woman, and there is a clerk that is found behind the check in desk as well.

The Meaning

Hotel Lobby is a signature piece which uses his classic style of brevity and of alienation. Staying and traveling to many hotels, this is one of the two pieces he created with the theme, and chose to display estranged couples in his work. Many believed that the work is a depiction of what Hopper and his wife went through in their marriage, as the alienated couples are meant to be a reflection of him and his wife. Many describe the travelers in the painting as being suspended in time, which gives a dramatic feeling to the painting, as well as a stoic feeling to the work.

Design

The painting is using a harsh tone in lighting, and rigid lines, which are used to create an uncomfortable environment. Broadway theater is also a love of Hopper’s which is something that the painting also depicts to its viewers.

Regardless of the way you view the work, what you take from it, or what stylistic approach you choose to see in the work that is depicted, the Hotel Lobby is one of the most famous pieces created by the painter, and depicts his main focus and style of work.