Blackwell's Island

22 July 1882 – 1910 · Residence

Edward Hopper Birthplace and Boyhood Home

1906–1910

Three trips to Europe, centred on Paris

Ostensibly to study art, Hopper makes three trips to Europe, each centred on Paris, with visits to London, Berlin and Amsterdam: in fact he mostly works alone, drawing street and café scenes and going to the theatre and opera, little affected by the new currents. He is highly impressed by Rembrandt, particularly the Night Watch, and later claims few European influences other than Rembrandt, Goya and the French engraver Charles Meryon, whose moody Paris scenes he imitated.

1910

A studio in New York and a return to illustration

Returning from his last European trip, Hopper rents a studio in New York and struggles to define his own style; to support himself he reluctantly returns to illustration and, as a freelancer, knocks on the doors of magazine and agency offices. His fellow illustrator Walter Tittle sees him sitting for days before his easel in helpless unhappiness.

1912

Gloucester: his first outdoor paintings in America

Seeking inspiration, Hopper travels to Gloucester, Massachusetts, and makes his first outdoor paintings in America; among them is “Squam Light”, the first of many lighthouse paintings to come.

1913

His first sale: “Sailing” at the Armory Show

At the Armory Show in New York Hopper sells his first painting, “Sailing” (1911), painted over an earlier self-portrait, to the businessman Thomas F. Vietor for $250. The thirty-one-year-old hopes his first sale will lead to others in short order, but his career will not catch on for many more years.

1913

His father's death, and the move to 3 Washington Square North

In September 1913 his father, Garret Henry Hopper, a dry-goods merchant who had retired at forty-nine, dies; shortly afterwards Hopper moves to an apartment at 3 Washington Square North in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, where he will live for the rest of his life.