Night Shadows

By the start of the 20th century, artists were interested in nocturnal scenes of the urban environment like this one. Edward Hopper was particularly adept at using the glare of electric lighting to convey an eerie sense of alienation. Night Shadows depicts a solitary figure walking toward a street corner. It is a radically simplified composition in which the harsh shadow of a street lamp is thrust diagonally across the path of the man. He is seen from an unusual viewpoint - oblique and high above - making him both diminutive and anonymous.