He studied at the New York School of Art under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri, where he developed his signature style, characterized by its emphasis on solitude, light, and shadow.

Hopper's work, spanning oil paintings, watercolors, and etchings, predominantly explores themes of loneliness and isolation within American urban and rural settings.

His paintings, often set in the architectural landscapes of New York or the serene environments of New England, convey a sense of narrative depth and emotional resonance, making him a pivotal figure in American Realism.

Though a tall and quiet teenager, his prankish sense of humor found outlet in his art, sometimes in depictions of immigrants or of women dominating men in comical situations.

"[30] His fellow illustrator Walter Tittle described Hopper's depressed emotional state in sharper terms, seeing his friend "suffering...from long periods of unconquerable inertia, sitting for days at a time before his easel in helpless unhappiness, unable to raise a hand to break the spell.

[35] Shortly after his father's death that same year, Hopper moved to the 3 Washington Square North apartment in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, where he would live for the rest of his life.

According to Boston Museum of Fine Arts curator Carol Troyen, "Hopper really liked the way these houses, with their turrets and towers and porches and mansard roofs and ornament cast wonderful shadows.

[47] With his financial stability secured by steady sales, Hopper would live a simple, stable life and continue creating art in his personal style for four more decades.

In the summers of 1937 and 1938, the couple spent extended sojourns on Wagon Wheels Farm in South Royalton, Vermont, where Hopper painted a series of watercolors along the White River.

[55] Hopper was very productive through the 1930s and early 1940s, producing among many important works New York Movie (1939), Girlie Show (1941), Nighthawks (1942), Hotel Lobby (1943), and Morning in a City (1944).

[60] Arthayer Sanborn, a Baptist minister that frequently visited their home to care for Edward's sister, Marion, came into possession of three hundred Hopper drawings and paintings.

[68][69] Conservative in politics and social matters (Hopper asserted for example that "artists' lives should be written by people very close to them"),[70] he accepted things as they were and displayed a lack of idealism.

He and his wife kept a detailed ledger of their works noting such items as "sad face of woman unlit", "electric light from ceiling", and "thighs cooler".

Bright sunlight (as an emblem of insight or revelation), and the shadows it casts, also play symbolically powerful roles in Hopper paintings such as Early Sunday Morning (1930), Summertime (1943), Seven A.M. (1948), and Sun in an Empty Room (1963).

Hopper derived his subject matter from two primary sources: one, the common features of American life (gas stations, motels, restaurants, theaters, railroads, and street scenes) and its inhabitants; and two, seascapes and rural landscapes.

He was fascinated with the American urban scene, "our native architecture with its hideous beauty, its fantastic roofs, pseudo-gothic, French Mansard, Colonial, mongrel or what not, with eye-searing color or delicate harmonies of faded paint, shouldering one another along interminable streets that taper off into swamps or dump heaps.

"[83] The work is the first of a series of stark rural and urban scenes that uses sharp lines and large shapes, played upon by unusual lighting to capture the lonely mood of his subjects.

Levin interprets the painting: Plato's philosopher, in search of the real and the true, must turn away from this transitory realm and contemplate the eternal Forms and Ideas.

Hopper also rejected comparisons with Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton stating "I think the American Scene painters caricatured America.

To establish the lighting of scenes in the 2002 film Road to Perdition, director Sam Mendes drew from the paintings of Hopper as a source of inspiration, particularly New York Movie.

[121] Homages to Nighthawks featuring cartoon characters or famous pop culture icons such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe are often found in poster stores and gift shops.

The cable television channel Turner Classic Movies sometimes runs animated clips based on Hopper paintings prior to airing its films.

Eight of the poems – Ground Swell, Girl at Sewing Machine, Compartment C, Car 293, Nighthawks, South Carolina Morning, House by the Railroad, People in the Sun, and Roofs of Washington Square – were subsequently set to music by composer Graciane Finzi, and recorded with reading by the singer Natalie Dessay on her album Portraits of America (2016), where they were supplemented by selecting ten additional Hopper paintings, and songs from the American songbook to go with them.

[citation needed] In 2004, a large selection of Hopper's paintings toured Europe, visiting Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, and the Tate Modern in London.

The exhibit comprised fifty oil paintings, thirty watercolors, and twelve prints, including the favorites Nighthawks, Chop Suey, and Lighthouse and Buildings.

It was divided chronologically into two main parts: the first section covered Hopper's formative years (1900–1924), comparing his work with that of his contemporaries and art he saw in Paris, which may have influenced him.

Hopper's longtime dealer, Frank Rehn, who gave the artist his first solo show in 1924, sold Hotel Window (1956) to collector Olga Knoepke for $7,000 (equivalent to $75,938 in 2023) in 1957.

In 1981, Hopper's Silence, a documentary by Brian O'Doherty produced by the Whitney Museum of American Art, was shown at the New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall.

[135][136] Other works based on or inspired by Hopper's paintings include Tom Waits's 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner, and a 2012 series of photographs by Gail Albert Halaban.

"[138] New wave band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's 1985 album Crush features artwork inspired by several Hopper paintings, including Early Sunday Morning, Nighthawks and Room in New York.