Edward Hopper – The Lonely House

“So I wait for you like a lonely house till you will see me again and live in meTill then my windows ache.”

(Pablo Neruda)

Edward Hopper, The Lonely House, etching, 1923

Edward Hopper is remembered as a painter of urban alienation and loneliness and this etching called “The Lonely House”, made in 1923, is yet another beautiful example of Hopper’s explorations of urban isolation. It is less colourful than his paintings because it is an etching but perhaps that is why it is even more fitting for the sentiment it explores. Though, I must note, that upon returning from Paris in 1910 Hopper took up etching only because his paintings had failed to find buyers so it was a practical bussiness move rather than an artistic choice. Still, I enjoy his etchings and I think he was creating them with equal ardour, exploring the same themes he would have on his canvases. The etching shows a solitary house standing alone and the surrounding empty space symbolises the place where other houses use to be but have since been demolished or have decayed. The last one standing, this three-story house is abandoned. While the side of the house is almost empty, the facade appears to be dark and gloomy. Perhaps it is only in the shade, but still, this darkness helps in conveying the mood and it also brings to mind Charles Burchfields strange wooden houses with gloomy facades. Two little girls are seen playing next to the house; their innocence, playfulness, and imagined laughter stand in contrast with the overall lonely mood of an abandoned place.