Rare window... Edward Hopper’s Night Windows, 1928 *(details; full image below).* Photograph: The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence

Edward Hopper’s Night Windows: evoking voyeurism and intrigue

This article is more than 6 years old

The great American realist was a master at painting the cinematic language of drama, theatrics and fluidity

Modern life…

Edward Hopper’s paintings have defined our idea of the modern urban world. In sites of everyday drama, be it a cafe, an apartment or shop front, he offers tantalising visions of closed-off lives.

Night in the city…

In this 1928 picture, the woman near a window is, in spite of the late hour, starkly exposed by an unwavering electric light. With its mix of light and dark, display and concealment, it follows a theme of Hopper’s from the 20s and 30s.

You’ve been framed…

His paintings of lonely figures in witching-hour streets are now a part of the language of the big screen. This seems a particularly cinematic painting, with its glimpse of nocturnal activity mirroring the voyeurism of watching in the movie house. The frames of the window suggest a film strip, while the theatrical curtains reveal the show.

Half the story…

Part of its power, though, is what it leaves to the imagination. The action is withheld, blocked out by masonry. Who is on the couch or bed? What is the woman bending towards?