1945

American Paintings and Sculpture


Edward Hopper’s paintings of buildings are portraits, in which the human presence is implied but not seen. In Rooms for Tourists, Hopper portrays the exterior of a boarding house in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He made study drawings of the building and then traveled there repeatedly at night while he worked on the painting. The contrast between the warm, electrically lit interior and the darkness of night outside captures the sense of transience and impermanence inherent in the boarding house’s impersonal arrivals and departures.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

30 1/4 × 42 1/8 in. (76.8 × 107 cm)

Credit Line

Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903

Accession Number

1961.18.30

Culture
Period

20th century

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Provenance

Stephen Carlton Clark; Yale University Art Gallery 1961
Bibliography
  • American Art: Selections from the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2023), 231, 233, no. 111, ill.
  • Carl Little, Edward Hopper's New England (Petaluma, Calif.: Pomegranate Commmunications, Inc., 2011), 85, fig. 32
  • Carol L. Troyen et al., Edward Hopper, exh. cat. (Verona, Italy: MFA Publications, 2007), 172, no. 95, ill.
  • Michael Conforti et al., The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings, exh. cat. (Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2006), 177, 286–87, 316, 332, fig. 210
  • Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné, v. III edition 1 (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1995), 308–309, fig. O-330
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

cityscapes (representations)

Subject

night shrubs windows

Signed

Signed lower right "EDWARD HOPPER"

Technical metadata and APIs

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