🎉 It's Edward Hopper's birthday! The beloved American artist was born on this day in 1882. — Edward Hopper, (Self-Portrait), 1925–1930. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Josephine N. Hopper Bequest 70.1165. © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The perfect painting to start your day: Edward Hopper's Early Sunday Morning. 🌅 Hopper described this work as "almost a literal translation of Seventh Avenue," yet, in typical Hopper fashion, the street looks as if it could be anywhere. The lettering in the window signs is illegible, architectural ornament is loosely sketched, and human presence is only suggested by the various curtains in apartment windows. Plus, the long, early morning shadows in the painting would never appear on a north-south street such as Seventh Avenue. Yet these very contrasts of light and shadow, and the succession of verticals and horizontals, create an almost theatrical atmosphere of empty buildings on an unpopulated street at the beginning of the day. Both peaceful and eerie, Early Sunday Morning elicits a sense of curiosity and wonder. This collection favorite is on view now in our seventh floor galleries. — Edward Hopper, Early Sunday Morning, 1930. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York