SuperRare

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

An iconic depiction of urban isolation, Nighthawks depicts a quarter of characters at night inside a greasy spoon with an expansive wraparound window that almost takes up the entire facade of the diner. Its brightly lit interior—the only source of illumination for the scene—floods the sidewalk and the surrounding buildings, which are otherwise dark. The restaurant's glass exterior creates a display-case effect that heightens the sense that the subjects (three customers and a counterman) are alone together. It's a study of alienation as the figures studiously ignore each other while losing themselves in a state of reverie or exhaustion.