Saltillo Mansion

Edward Hopper American
1943
Not on view
Hopper and his wife Jo traveled to Mexico in the summer of 1943, seeking a change of scene and new subjects for Hopper's art. After stopping in Mexico City, they traveled 500 miles north to Saltillo, a smaller city whose cool, dry climate and views of nearby mountains made it a popular destination for vacationers. The Hoppers stayed at a hotel called the Guarhado House on Victoria Street, and Hopper painted several watercolors from the hotel roof. From this height, he could see the mountains over the buildings of the city, but his depictions of the scene still suggest the urban development that was blocking his enjoyment of the natural setting. In another work, he showed the colorful towers of Saltillo's eighteenth-century cathedral, a reminder of the city's roots as a Spanish settlement; here, however, he limits his scope to a partial view of some domestic architecture. The houses' simple, blocklike forms, trimmed with lattices and decorative carving, are a dazzling white against the sky and the distant hills. Hopper had initially complained that Saltillo was noisy and congested, but from his rooftop he could project onto this new setting the same stillness and solitude that pervaded his scenes of New York and New England.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Saltillo Mansion
  • Artist: Edward Hopper (American, Nyack, New York 1882–1967 New York)
  • Date: 1943
  • Medium: Watercolor over graphite on paper
  • Dimensions: 21 1/4 × 27 1/8 in. (54 × 68.9 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: George A. Hearn Fund, 1945
  • Object Number: 45.157.2
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.