Edward Hopper's authentic portrayals of the American landscape have become icons of American culture ,Born along the lower Hudson River in Nyack ,New York ,Hopper dreamed of becoming a naval architect , His lifelong fascination with sailing and the sea provided a subject to which Hopper consistently returned throughout his career as a painter.

As a student of Robert Henri, founder of the renowned Ash Can School. Henri's social realism greatly influenced Hopper's work. His early work shows his love of architecture as a vehicle for expressing shadow. light and color.

In 1921 Hopper's oil paintings caught the attention of leading critics and dealers. He swiftly rose to the status of America's foremost Realist. and he once described his word as "an art based on the American scene". His evocative canvases confront the viewer with images of isolation and alienation that echoed his own introspection. Nighthawks, one of Hopper's best known works, is an American classic. A retrospective exhibition of Hopper's work appeared at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1995.