I saw a headline the other day proclaiming that early 20th century American artist Edward Hopper was the "dour bard of solitude." Hmmm... maybe a bit exaggerated. His figures are not solitary as much as they are contemplative and introspective. So I thought it fitting that on a rainy, dreary day when I didn't feel like watching the World Cup with my friends at a bar full of Mexicans, I would go visit The Whitney. The museum was had a special exhibit on Hopper's works, in fact the only open exhibit this week, so I was in luck.

The Whitney Museum of American Art does a fabulous job with their set up: contrasting the paintings on expansive white walls with simple, wooden frames. I invited myself to join a tour and learned all about Hopper, including the fact that we were born in the same town! The tour guide was passionate as she explained each painting, pointing out Hopper's obsession with light plays and his artistic trot through sketches and studies before arriving at the masterpiece. They even had Hopper's ledgers on display, where his wife Jo would take meticulous notes about the paintings themselves and the settings they portrayed. My favourite Hopper painting was of a female attendant in a movie theater. She leans pensively on a wall near the exit, not watching the movie, or anything in particular really, just caught up in her own thoughts while the world she lives in is engaged elsewhere. It was stunning to also view the 50 sketches that Hopper made before painting the final piece. You learn about his attention to detail, colour and how he toys with the characters in his scene. A master!