Years ago, I was captivated by an exhibit at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, "Hopper in Paris". We think of Hopper as a quintessentially American painter, but he spent a significant amount of time in Paris between 1906 and 1910. And that time yielded over one hundred drawings and paintings. During his early Parisian stays, Hopper lived at 48 rue de Lille, in the 7th arrondissement. His quarters adjoined the Evangelical Baptist Church (which had sponsored his visit). Here's what it looks like now:
And guess what? I was there last month! The ground floor is now a space dedicated to art exhibits, and my friend Marie Sand had an opening there to which I was invited. Imagine my excitement when she showed me the courtyard--the very one that Hopper had painted. Here's the courtyard as painted by Hopper, and how it appears now:
I poked around the building a little bit, and discovered some humble stairways that were very reminiscent of the one Hopper painted (top image). Perhaps not the very stairs that were the subject of Hopper's painting, but close enough to give me goosebumps. It's a thrill to stand in the footsteps of a great painter from the past, and to get a glimpse into his life and his painting process. I learned from standing in Hopper's shoes that the most humble places can be the impetus for memorable paintings.
I'm closing with another Hopper painting of his courtyard at rue de Lille, from a higher vantage point. I can see in these early paintings the themes that would come to define Hopper: interior spaces without human activity, and the architecture of simple planes and lines. Hopper's Paris works are definitely worth a close study.
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