Hopper in Paris

"Notre Dame, No. 2"
Edward Hopper, 1907

Over ten years ago, the Mint Museum mounted an exhibition "Edward Hopper: The Paris Years". I was completely taken by the wonderful Hopper canvases from Paris. These lovely paintings were quite early in Hopper's career. He made three trips to Paris between 1906 and 1909, as a young man in his mid-20's. This period was well before the development of his mature style, and before his famous body of work, which focuses on the 20th century urban world. I love what Scott Lucas wrote about Hopper's Paris paintings: "These are paintings by a driven and talented artist rambling through the treasure-trove of style and technique laid out before him in the galleries and museums of Paris

[at] a time when Europe owned the art world and Paris ruled." What a moment, and what a place, to be developing one's craft.

"Le Pont des Arts"
Edward Hopper, 1907

As the Mint curators wrote, Hopper's work in Paris, though very early, showed traits that he retained throughout his career: simple, large geometric forms; flat masses of color; and the use of architectural elements for their strong angular lines. I remember being especially drawn to his interiors of the period, where he lived at 48 rue de Lille. You can see in them seeds of his later New York interiors. The stairway painting below was perhaps my favorite of the exhibit.

"Stairway at 48 rue de Lille"
Edward Hopper, 1906

So imagine my delight when I spent a week in Paris this month--over one hundred years after Hopper was there!--and found this wonderful stairway in the building of our rental apartment. My heart practically stopped.

Photo (c) Lesley Powell, 2014

When I took the photo above, I had not seen Hopper's painting in over ten years. Yet the details of it must have been embedded in my memory, for me to take a photo with such very similar composition. Another favorite from the Mint exhibit was an interior courtyard, below:

"Interior Courtyard at 48 rue de Lille"
Edward Hopper, 1906

I marveled when I first saw these paintings that Hopper could make beautiful paintings of such simple scenes. There are lessons to be learned here!~