In this work, Hopper isolates the dramatic silhouette of a lighthouse against an open expanse of blue sky. Set on a rocky promontory in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, the architecture is bathed in bright sunlight offset by dark shadows. Standing proudly upright and seen from below, the lighthouse at Two Lights seems to symbolize a resolute resistance, even refusal, to submit to change or nature. For Hopper, who had been summering in Maine since 1914, the lighthouse also signified a pleasurable reprieve from life in New York.
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Lighthouse at Two Lights
Artist:Edward Hopper (American, Nyack, New York 1882–1967 New York)
Date:1929
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:29 1/4 × 43 in. (74.3 × 109.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Hugo Kastor Fund, 1962
Object Number:62.95
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Edward Hopper
[Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries, New York, 1929; sold on November 1, 1929, for $2000, to Tucker]; Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Tucker, New York (1929–at least 1949); Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Tucker, New York and San Francisco (by 1950–59); Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman, Detroit (1959–at least 1960); [Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries, New York, until 1962; sold to MMA]
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings by Nineteen Living Americans," December 13, 1929–January 12, 1930, no. 36 (as "Lighthouse," lent by Mrs. Samuel Tucker, New York).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "American Painting and Sculpture, 1862–1932," October 31, 1932–January 31, 1933, no. 53 (as "Lighthouse," lent by Mrs. Samuel Tucker, New York).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Edward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition," November 1–December 7, 1933, no. 14 (as "Lighthouse at Two Lights," lent by Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker, New York).
Arts Club of Chicago. "Exhibition of Paintings by Edward Hopper," January 2–16, 1934, no. 21 (as "Lighthouse at Two Lights," lent by Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker, New York).
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "Edward Hopper: An Exhibition of Paintings, Water Colors and Etchings," March 11–April 25, 1937, no. 21 (as "Lighthouse at Two Lights," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Sam A. Tucker).
Paris. Musée du Jeu de Paume. "Trois Siècles d'Art aux Etats-Unis," May–July 1938, no. 95 (as "Phare à 'Two Lights' [Lighthouse at Two Lights]," lent by Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker, New York).
Art Institute of Chicago. "The Fifty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture," October 28–December 12, 1943, no. 10 (as "Lighthouse at Two Lights," lent by Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker, New York).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Edward Hopper Retrospective Exhibition," February 11–March 26, 1950, no. 33 (as "Lighthouse at Two Lights," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Tucker).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Edward Hopper Retrospective Exhibition," April 13–May 14, 1950, no. 33.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Edward Hopper Retrospective Exhibition," June 4–July 2, 1950, no. 33.
Venice. U. S. Pavilion. "XXVI Biennale di Venezia," June 14–October 19, 1952, no. 19 (as "Faro a Two Lights," lent by Richard D. Tucker, Esq., New York).
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Judge the Jury," February 13–March 22, 1953, no catalogue.
Moscow. Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Centre. "American Painting and Sculpture. American National Exhibition," July 25–September 5, 1959, no. 6 (as "Lighthouse at Two Lights," lent by Mr. Richard D. Tucker, San Francisco, California).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Paintings and Sculpture from the American National Exhibition in Moscow," October 28–November 15, 1959, unnumbered cat. (p. 10; lent by Richard D. Tucker).
Milwaukee Art Center. "American Painting 1760–1960: A Selection of 125 Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman, Detroit," March 3–April 3, 1960, unnumbered cat. (p. 84; as "Lighthouse at Two Lights").
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Edward Hopper," September 29–November 29, 1964, no. 19 (as "Lighthouse at Two Lights").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971, no. 392.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Painter's Light," October 5–November 10, 1971, no. 32.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tribute to a Curator: Robert Beverly Hale," November 16, 1978–March 4, 1979, extended to March 18, 1979, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist," September 16, 1980–January 25, 1981, unnumbered cat. (pl. 194).
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist," April 22–June 17, 1981, unnumbered cat.
Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist," July 10–September 6, 1981, unnumbered cat.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist," October 3–November 29, 1981, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist," December 16, 1981–February 14, 1982, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection One: Twentieth-Century Art," February 1–April 30, 1985, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 55).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Landscape Painting," April 4–August 13, 1989, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "14 Americans," July 16, 1990–January 2, 1991, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting: 1905–1950," April 19–October 7, 1991, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Edward Hopper," April 18–August 17, 1996, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Edward Hopper," April 18–August 17, 1997, no catalogue.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Edward Hopper," May 6–August 19, 2007, no. 52.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Edward Hopper," September 16, 2007–January 21, 2008, no. 52.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Edward Hopper," February 16–May 11, 2008, no. 52.
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art—Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 6, 2012–January 4, 2013, no. 110.
Beijing. National Museum of China. "Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art—Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 8–May 9, 2013, no. 110.
Edward Alden Jewell. Modern Art: Americans. New York, 1930, pl. 41.
Guy Pène du Bois. Edward Hopper. New York, 1931, ill. pp. 28–29, notes that it is in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker, New York.
Edward Alden Jewell. "American Painting." Creative Art 9 (November 1931), ill. p. 364.
F[rank]. C[rowninshield]. "A Series of American Artists, No. 3: Edward Hopper." Vanity Fair 38 (June 1932), ill. p. 31, calls it "The Lighthouse at Twin Lights, Maine".
Helen Appleton Read. "Racial Quality of Hopper Pictures at Modern Museum Agrees with Nationalistic Mood." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (November 5, 1933), ill. p. 12B-C, calls it "Lighthouse at Two Lights".
"Hopper's One-Man Show." Sun (November 4, 1933), ill. p. 11.
"Modern Museum Holds Hopper Exhibition." Art Digest 8 (November 1, 1933), p. 19.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. inEdward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1933, pp. 13, 26, no. 14, ill.
"New Phases of American Art." London Studio V, no. 23 (February 1933), ill. p. 84.
Holger Cahill. "American Painting 1856-1934: The Impact of Modern Art." Art in America in Modern Times. Ed. Holger Cahill and Alfred H. Barr Jr. New York, 1934, p. 40, colorpl. 2.
"Hopper is a Realist." Life 2 (May 3, 1937), p. 46, ill. (color), calls it "Light House at Two Lights" and notes that it was painted in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
"A Portfolio of Prize Paintings." Fortune (December 1937), p. 137.
Peyton Boswell, Jr. Modern American Painting. New York, 1939, pp. 159, 205, ill. p. 125 (color), calls it "Light House at Two Lights" and notes that the owner, Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker, has received so many requests to loan the work that it is "like having a very pretty debutante daughter. It is never at home.".
American Artists Group, ed. Edward Hopper. New York, 1945, unpaginated, ill.
"Ten Years of American Art: LIFE Reviews the Record of a Lively, Important Decade." Life 21 (November 25, 1946), ill. p. 74 (color).
Lloyd Goodrich. Edward Hopper. Hardmondsworth, England, 1949, colorpl. 11.
Andrew Heiskell. "Speaking of LIFE . . ." Life 26 (May 30, 1949), ill. p. 6.
Carlyle Burrows. "Hopper: A Steady Climb to Eminence." New York Herald Tribune (February 12, 1950), sec. 5, p. 6, calls this work one of the artist's "most striking achievements".
Francis Henry Taylor. Fifty Centuries of Art. New York, 1954, ill. p. 182 (color).
Suzanne Burrey. "Edward Hopper: The Emptying Spaces." Arts Digest 29 (April 1, 1955), p. 8, notes the ubiquity of this work in reproduction and how it represents the artist's attraction to recurrent themes.
Lloyd Goodrich. "Edward Hopper." New Art in America: Fifty Painters of the 20th Century. Ed. John I. H. Baur. Greenwich, Conn., 1957, ill. p. 145.
Royal Bailey Farnum. "The Stories Behind 8 Famous Paintings." Design 59 (March-April 1958), p. 174, ill., calls it "Lighthouse at Two Points"; notes that the feeling of isolation in this work is achieved by removing visual references to both people and the ocean.
Sanka Knox. "Moscow Fair Art To Be Seen Here: Whitney Museum to Show Controversial Collection of American Works." New York Times (July 22, 1959), ill. p. 29.
Dorothy Adlow. "American Art in Moscow." Christian Science Monitor (June 18, 1959), ill. p. 9, calls it "Lighthouse in Truro".
"Moscow to See Modern U.S. Art." New York Times (May 31, 1959), p. 60.
"The Art in America Annual Award: Edward Hopper." Art in America no. 4 (1960), p. 3, calls it "Light House at Two Lights".
John D. Morse. "Edward Hopper." Art in America 48 (Spring 1960), p. 62, notes that this work was recently sold by the Tuckers.
Vladimir Kemenov. "Russian: Plus and Minus at the Moscow Show." Art in America 48, no. 2 (1960), p. 34.
Robert Beverly Hale. "American Paintings and Sculpture." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 21 (October 1962), pp. 58–59, ill.
Henry Geldzahler. "Edward Hopper." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 21 (November 1962), pp. 113, 115, fig. 1.
Gertrud A. Mellon and Elizabeth F. Wilder, ed. Maine and Its Role in American Art, 1740-1963. New York, 1963, p. 143, ill. (color).
Lloyd Goodrich. Edward Hopper. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1964, pp. 20–21, 38, 64, no. 19, ill.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, p. 79, ill. p. 78.
Alfred Frankenstein. "Art: Hopper Makes Lies of Legends." San Francisco Sunday Chronicle (January 31, 1965), ill. p. 29.
Eric F. Goldman and Tracy Atkinson. The Beauty of America in Great American Art. Waukesha, Wis., 1965, ill. p. 75 (color).
Sidney Bernard. "Edward Hopper, Poet-Painter of Loneliness." Literary Times (April 1965), p. 11, notes how the "lofty isolation" depicted in this work evokes "a theme of beginnings" like Robert Frost when he wrote "The land was ours before we were the land's".
Lloyd Goodrich. Edward Hopper. New York, [1971], pp. 54–55, ill. p. 73 (color).
"Rare Realist." MD 17 (September 1973), ill. p. 141.
Shirley Glubok. The Art of America in the Early Twentieth Century. New York, 1974, ill. pp. 24–25.
Henry Geldzahler in "A Bicentennial Treasury: American Masterpieces from the Metropolitan." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 33 (Winter 1975–76), pp. 230, 237, fig. 90 (color).
Gail Levin. Edward Hopper: The Complete Prints. New York, 1979, p. 29, fig. 42.
Benjamin Forgey. "Hopper's America." Portfolio 2 (September-October 1980), ill. (cover, color).
Mark Stevens. "Hopper: The Artist as Voyeur." Newsweek (September 29, 1980), p. 91, ill. (color).
Gail Levin. Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1980, p. 43, colorpl. 194.
Mimi Crossley. "Art." Houston Post (November 30, 1980), ill. p. 9AA.
Courtney Graham Donnell. "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist." Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 75 (October–December 1981), p. 2, ill. on cover.
Allan Temko. "The Private Sorrow of Edward Hopper." San Francisco Chronicle Review (December 20, 1981), ill. p. 13.
Louise Bruner. "Edward Hopper Art Exhibited in Chicago." Blade (November 22, 1981), sec. G, p. 2, calls it "Lighthouse of Two Lights" and mistakenly dates it 1919.
Pamela Allara. "Books." Tufts Criterion 13 (July 1981), ill. p. 18 (detail).
Alan G. Artner. "Visions of America." Chicago Tribune Magazine (September 20, 1981), ill. p. 15.
"Wie im Theater." Der Spiegel 35 (July 6, 1981), ill. p. 147 (color).
Babbette Brandt Fromme. Curators' Choice: An Introduction to the Art Museums of the U.S. New York, 1981, p. 177.
Margaret Richards. "Tension in Stillness." Tribune 45 (February 27, 1981), p. 7, calls it "Light-house at Two Lights".
Mahonri Sharp Young. "Edward Hopper: The Ultimate Realist." Apollo 113 (March 1981), p. 189, fig. 6.
Christopher Neve. "Early Sunday Morning, Edward Hopper." Country Life 170 (March 12, 1981), fig. 1 (color).
William Feaver. "Art: Railroads and Sunsets." Observer (February 15, 1981), p. 36.
Debbie Jonak. "Hopper Looked at America, Saw Himself." Daily Herald (October 12, 1981), ill. sec. 3, p. 1.
Raymond L. Wilson. "Master of Poignancy and Mood." Artweek 13 (January 16, 1982), ill. p. 1.
Gail Levin. Hopper's Places. New York, 1985, pp. 11–13.
J. A. Ward. American Silences: The Realism of James Agee, Walker Evans, and Edward Hopper. Baton Rouge, La., 1985, pp. 176–77, 181–82.
Ross Woodrow in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 55, ill. (color).
"Hopper." Great Artists 4, no. 88 (1986), pp. 2792–93, ill. (color), mistakenly refers to it as a watercolor and notes that the painting's location, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, was known for its spectacular surf.
Philip Jodidio. "Douze personnalités a New York." des Arts 420 (February 1987), p. 61, ill. p. 60 (color, installation photo).
Matt Damsker. "The Met Goes Modern: New Wing a Treasure Box, Even If Collection Has Gaps." Hartford Courant (February 11, 1987), p. C7, ill. p. C1.
Sylvia Hochfield. "Thoroughly Modern Met." Art News 86 (February 1987), ill. p. 117 (color).
Nicolas Cendo inEdward Hopper. Exh. cat., Musée Cantini. 1989, ill. p. 12 (color).
Harry L. Wagner in Donald Goddard. American Painting. New York, 1990, p. 206, ill. pp. 210–11 and jacket (color).
Lisa M. Messinger inThe Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1991, p. 48, fig. 5.
Barbara Burn, ed. Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 300, ill. (color).
Carl Little. Edward Hopper's New England. San Francisco, 1993, p. XIII, colorpl. 12.
Barbara Burn, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, p. 444, no. 23, ill. (color).
Gail Levin Whitney Museum of American Art. Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné. Vol. 3, Oils. New York, 1995, p. 192, no. O-266, ill. (color).
Wieland Schmied. Edward Hopper: Portraits of America. New York, 1995, pp. 36, 73–74, ill. p. 38 (color).
Yves Bonnefoy. The Lure and the Truth of Painting: Selected Essays on Art. Ed. Richard Stamelman. Chicago, 1995, p. 153.
Deborah Lyons. "Record Books I, II, III, V." Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work. New York, 1997, p. 30, artist notes this work was delivered to the Rehn Gallery in October 1929 and purchased by Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker around November 1, 1929 after seeing it in September.
Virginia M. Mecklenburg with Margaret Lynne Ausfeld. Edward Hopper: The Watercolors. Exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C., 1999, p. 158.
Mike O'Mahony. American Art. London, 2006, p. 188, ill. p. 189 (color).
Carol Troyen inEdward Hopper. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2007, pp. 242, 248, no. 52.
Janet L. Comey inEdward Hopper. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2007, pp. 91, 98, 107, 109, 204, 242, colorpl. 52.
Gail Levin. Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography. 2nd rev. ed. [1st ed., 1995]. New York, 2007, pp. 223, 453.
Erika J. Waters. Images of America: Kittery to Bar Harbor, Touring Coastal Maine. Chicago, 2010, p. 40, describes the history of the lighthouse on which this work is based.
Teresa Costa inTourism and Visual Culture. Ed. Peter M. Burns, Cathy Palmer, and Jo-Anne Lester. Vol. 1, Theories and Concepts. Cambridge, Mass., 2010, p. 47.
Carol Troyen inEdward Hopper's Maine. Exh. cat., Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Me. New York, 2011, pp. 26–31, fig. 11 (color).
Kevin Salatino inEdward Hopper's Maine. Exh. cat., Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Me. New York, 2011, pp. 46, 52, 54–55, 57n30.
Tomàs Llorens inHopper. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012, p. 58, fig. 7 (color).
Lisa Messinger in Peter Barnet and Atsuyuki Nakahara. Earth, Sea, Sky, Nature in Western Art: Masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat.Tokyo, 2012, p. 242, colorpl. 110.
Rosalind Ormiston. Edward Hopper Masterpieces. London, 2012, p. 49, ill. (color) pp. 49, 83.
Bonnie Tocher Clause. Edward Hopper in Vermont. Hanover, N.H., 2012, pp. 57–58.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. inHopper. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012, p. 259 [Reprint of Ref. Barr 1933].
John Morse inHopper. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012, p. 273.
Caroline Hancock inHopper. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012, p. 329.
Elizabeth Lunday. The Modern Art Invasion: Picasso, Duchamp, and the 1913 Armory Show That Scandalized America. Guilford, Conn., 2013, p. 167.
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 526, ill. (color), colorpl. 451.
Edward Hopper (American, Nyack, New York 1882–1967 New York)
1921
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