How Edward Hopper Used Light: Gas, Nighthawks and Hodgkin's House

Edward Hopper's paintings are known and loved for the eerie narratives that they create. In this video we look at how his painting of light contributes to this.

We will see - perhaps unexpectedly - how he uses the same principles and theories as the Impressionists, but to a very different effect. I show you the fundamentals of this method including the ideas of local or object colour, primary and secondary light sources, and how complementary colours play a key role.

As always we look at some of the artist's great paintings to see what we can steal from them, in this case Hopper's 'Gas' (1940; https://www.moma.org/collection/works...) , 'Nighthawks' (1942; https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111628...) and 'Hodgkin's House' (1928; private collection). Our old friend Vincent van Gogh's chair also makes an appearance as I look at how different artists have different objectives.

If you have any questions or observations, please drop them into the Comments below and I'll make a point of responding. And please don't forget to subscribe - we'll be delving deeper into Hopper in the next few videos, and plan to steal from lots more Great Artists in the future!