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Even though famous painter Edward Hopper passed away in 1967, New York’s Meatpacking District recently found a unique way to keep the artist alive. In late July, the district partnered with Whitney Museum of American Art to create an immersive four-day event entitled Step Into Hopper in honor of the artist's birthday. This event provided the public the chance to interact with three life-sized replicas of some of the painter's most famous pieces.
Edward Hopper was one of the most prominent figures in American Realism and is best known for his oil paintings of everyday scenes and people. A sense of melancholy or isolation is present in much of his work, and his depictions of empty and silent spaces have forever cemented him in American art history. A native New Yorker, Hopper often used New England as his creative backdrop.
For Step Into Hopper, three recreations of the artist's paintings were featured, including Soir Bleu, Early Sunday Morning, and Nighthawks, his most famous work. Local performers were hired to serve as the figures from the paintings, including a clown and a barista.
Visitors to the event were invited to pose with the performers and replicas and get their pictures taken, allowing them to interact and exist within an Edward Hopper painting. This provided many humorous selfie opportunities as everyday people took a step back in time to pose in a retro diner or with a crestfallen clown. The event organizers also tried to make each experience as realistic as possible, providing free coffee at the Nighthawks location and ensuring that Early Sunday Morning was away from the hustle and bustle of modern-day New York City, in order to capture the feeling of the original painting.
For New Yorkers interested in seeing the original pieces in person, they're in luck. Both Soir Bleu and Early Sunday Morning are currently hanging in the Whitney. But to see Nighthawks, they will have to take a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago.
In honor of Edward Hopper's 142nd birthday, New Yorkers recently had the opportunity to interact with three live replicas of his paintings in Manhattan.
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The Meatpacking District partnered with the Whitney Museum to bring Nighthawks, Soir Bleu, and Early Sunday Morning to life.
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Performers were hired to play the roles of the figures from the paintings, providing for some fantastic selfie opportunities.
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h/t: [Smithsonian Magazine]
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