Edward Hopper's early training from 1900 to 1906 at the New York School of Art with Robert Henri, leader of The Eight, and his work as an illustrator between 1899 and 1924, led him to paint realistic scenes of urban and rural America. In 1924 a successful gallery exhibition in New York enabled him to give up commercial work altogether and concentrate full time on painting. Hopper depicted his favored subjects — cityscapes, landscapes, and room interiors — solemnly, in carefully composed compositions that seem timeless and frozen but are animated by the effects of natural and man-made light. As fellow painter Charles Burchfield wrote for the catalogue of the Museum of Modern Art's 1933 Hopper retrospective: "Hopper's viewpoint is essentially classic; he presents his subjects without sentiment, propaganda, or theatrics. He is the pure painter, interested in his material for its own sake, and in the exploitation of his idea of form, color, and space division."

In "The Lighthouse at Two Lights" Hopper isolated the dramatic silhouette of the 120-foot-high lighthouse tower and adjoining Coast Guard station against the open expanse of blue sky. Set on a rocky promontory in Cape Elizabeth, Maine — though no water is visible in the painting — the architecture is bathed in bright sunlight offset by dark shadows. Since 1914 Hopper had regularly summered in Maine, and this picture is one of three oils and several watercolors that he did of this site during summer 1929. To Hopper, the lighthouse at Two Lights symbolized the solitary individual stoically facing the onslaught of change in an industrial society. The integrity and clarity of his work made Hopper a quiet force in American art for forty years and one of America's most popular artists.

Signature: [lower right]: Edward Hopper

the artist (1929); Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Tucker, New York (1929–ca. 1959); Richard D. Tucker, New York (in 1959); Lawrence Fleischman, Detroit (ca. 1959–at least 1960); [Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries, New York, until 1962; sold to MMA]

¦Paintings by nineteen living Americans¦, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1929, no. 36 (lent by Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker).

¦American Painting & Sculpture 1862-1932¦, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 31, 1932–January 31, 1933, p. 32, no. 53 (ill.; listed as "LIGHTHOUSE, 1929; collection Mrs. Samuel Tucker, New York).

¦Edward Hopper¦, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1933, p. 26, no. 14 (listed; gives location of lighthouse as Cape Elizabeth, Maine; collection of Mrs. Samuel A. Tucker).

¦Painting and Sculpture from the American National Exhibition in Moscow¦, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1959, p. 10 (listed; lent by Richard D. Tucker).

¦American Painting 1760–1960: A Selection of 125 Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman, Detroit¦, Milwaukee Art Center, March 3–April 3, 1960, unnumbered cat. (p. 84).

¦Three Centuries of American Painting¦, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965 (checklist arranged alphabetically)

¦Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries¦, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1970, p. 325, no. 392, (listed and ill.)

¦Representations of America¦, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, December 15 - February 15, 1978; Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, March 15–May 15, 1978; Palace of Art, Minsk, June 15–August 15, 1978. (A catalogue was promised but never printed by the Russian government.)

Gail Levin, ¦Edward Hopper: The Art and The Artist¦, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 1980–January 25, 1981; Hayward Gallery, London, February 11–March 29, 1981; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, April 22–June 17, 1981; Stadtische Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, July 10–September 6, 1981; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, October 3–November 29, 1981; Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, December 16, 1981–February 10, 1982, p. 165, plate 194.

¦20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art¦, Australian National Gallery, Australia, March 1–April 27, 1986; Queensland Art Gallery, Australia, May 7–July 1, 1986. ill. p. 55. (ill. in color)

¦Edward Hopper¦, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, May 6–August 19, 2007; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 16, 2007–January 21, 2008; The Art Institute of Chicago, February 16–May 11, 2008, ill. p. 109, checklist p. 248, no. 52, p. 107 (discussed). (ill. in color).

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.

Pène du Bois, Guy. Edward Hopper, New York, 1931, p. 28 (listed), p. 29 (ill.).

American Artists Group. Edward Hopper, New York, 1945, n.p. (ill.)

Goodrich, Lloyd. Edward Hopper, London, 1949, p. 15, no. 11 (mentioned), pl. 11 (ill).

Hale, R. B. American Paintings and Sculpture, in MMA Bulletin, N.S., vol. XXI, 1962 (Oct.) p. 58 (mentioned), p. 59 (ill).

Geldzahler, Henry. Edward Hopper, in MMA Bulletin, N.S., vol. XXI, 1962 (Nov.), p. 113, 115 (mentioned), p. 113, 115 (mentioned), p. 114, fig. 1 (ill.)

MMA: American Painting in the Twentieth Century, by Henry Geldzahler [c. 1965], p. 78 (ill., discussed), p. 217 (short biography of the artist), p. 228 (bibliography on the artist).

Goodrich, Lloyd. Edward Hopper, New York, 1978, ill. in color, p.73.

Tokyo, 1982 (exh.cat.) Japanese Artists who Studied in the USA and the American Scene. p. 120 (ill.)

Gail Levin. Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné. Vol. 3, "Oils." New York, 1995, p. 192, no. O-266, ill. (color).

Tomàs Llorens in Hopper. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012, p. 66, fig. 61 (color).