Friday 2 November 2012

Hopper, The Grand Palais

Calling all Night Hawks. This is a must see before January.



An extremely well curated exhibition taking its time to show his influences, especially those in Paris, of course, before letting one lose on his journeyman work (magazine frontispieces), etchings and water colours, interspersed with massive projections of black and white film of early twentieth century New York and photographs by diCoria showing Hopper's own influence on contemporary artists.

The reward for all this is in the final room where most of his well known paintings (like Night Hawks, above) are generously hung. The final work in the show is Sun in an Empty Room ,which sums up the ennui of city life where the most important things are a night cap and a woman sitting alone at a window sewing.

A great retrospective and worth every cent of the 12 Euro entrance fee. Be warned though, either book in advance on line or be prepared to stand in a queue for hours, literally. If you want to get in by 10.30am, you 'll need to be to be in line by 8.30am. I kid you not. He is that popular here. Enjoy. I certainly did.

No comments:

Post a Comment