JANUARY 26 – MAY 17, 2020
We visited The Fondation Beyeler’s 2020 spring exhibition on Sunday that show works by Edward Hopper (1882–1967), one of the 20th century’s most important American painters. I am a huge fan of Hopper and first saw his most famous painting and my absolute favourite “Nighthawks” at the Art Institute of Chicago. Hopper was born in Nyack, New York. After training as an illustrator, he studied painting at the New York School of Art until 1906. Next to German, French and Russian literature, the young artist found key reference points in painters such as Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet.
The exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler focusses on Hopper’s iconic representations of the infinite expanse of American landscapes and cityscapes. To date, this aspect has rarely been highlighted in exhibitions devoted to Edward Hopper, yet it is key to understanding his work and its reception. With watercolors and oil paintings dating from the 1910s to the 1960s, the exhibition will provide an extensive and exciting overview of the multifaceted nature of Edward Hopper’s oeuvre.
Organized by the Fondation Beyeler in cooperation with the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the major repository of Hopper’s work.
A further highlight of the exhibition will be the screening of Two or Three Things I Know about Edward Hopper, a 3D short film by renowned director and photographer Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire; Don’t Come Knocking). Inspired by Edward Hopper’s “American spirit”, the film will be shown in spectacular 3D projection.
The movie was made possible thanks to the support of BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation and LUMA Foundation.
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