Two on the Aisle

The gentleman removes his overcoat, his companion laying hers across the back of the seat. They have just arrived at the theater—early. So early that the orchestra pit is empty, and only one other patron is seated, engrossed in the playbill. The elegantly dressed couple resembles the artist himself, Edward Hopper (with his famously bald head), and his wife Jo, who modeled for nearly all of his female figures.

The emptiness of the theater, which seems to draw attention to the separateness and self-absorption of the few figures within the space, is characteristic of Hopper’s images of American life. Although Hopper lived in the teeming city of New York, he was a master of the quiet narrative. His scenes of city streets, restaurants, offices, and theaters imbue ordinary moments of everyday life with psychological complexity. They rarely feature more than a few figures, leading to his reputation as the “painter of loneliness.”