Edward Hopper, one of America’s most popular artists, was known for his realistic and representational artwork. In 1927, he painted the “Light At Two Lights,” a piece that captures the solitary individual’s stoic presence facing an industrial society’s onslaught of change. Using conté, oil, and watercolor while working on location, Hopper focused on depicting the lighthouse’s stark forms and changing weather conditions. His work exuded integrity and clarity that made him a quiet force in American art for forty years.
Hopper’s “Light At Two Lights” symbolized the solitude of human beings in modern society without explicitly showing them. Although this painting focuses on the lighthouse at Two Lights as a single structure because it was well-known from various other paintings by different artists during his time. The composition indicated how insignificant human figures are amid vast natural scenes even if not present within his work explicitly.
The lighthouse has always been an emblem of hope since its inception. Thus it doubles as testament to man’s determination to fight against nature in order to thrive in it under any circumstance; Light At Two Lights is no different except for its unique representation where man’s determination is somewhat more personal than communal when confronted with change inside an urban setting.
