Buzz
If the old saying holds true, and imitation truly is the highest form of admiration, then Edward Hopper might just be the most revered artist in history. And Nighthawks, his 1942 portrayal of a solitary late-night diner, stands as his greatest achievement.
Beyond being one of the most iconic masterpieces in American art, Nighthawks has also become one of its most frequently reinterpreted. From visual art to cinema, music to poetry, Hopper’s meditation on solitude has been celebrated, replicated, parodied, and examined for over 70 years. With the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York preparing “Hopper Drawing”—the first major exhibit focusing on Hopper’s artistic process, including a film series showcasing movies that influenced his realism—we’re taking a look at 10 artists who’ve paid homage to Hopper’s most famous painting in their own creations.
1. George Segal, The Diner (1964-1966)
Image courtesy Walker Art Center
Pop artist George Segal employed the same technique used for creating orthopedic casts to craft his life-sized scenes, which he referred to as “situation sculptures.” For The Diner, completed in 1966, Segal repurposed parts from an actual diner to evoke a Nighthawks-like feeling of solitude.
2. Tom Waits, Nighthawks at the Diner (1975)
Tom Waits’ first live album draws heavy inspiration from Hopper’s work, with its title, cover art, and lyrics all reflecting his influence. Initially titled Nighthawk Postcards from Easy Street, it was later renamed to align with the opening line of “Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson),” the third track on the album.
3. Dario Argento, Deep Red (1976)
Filmmakers have so often tried to bring life to Hopper’s iconic diner scene that it has become a recognized TV trope, dubbed the “Nighthawks Shot,” and even has its own entry on TVTropes.org. Italian horror legend Dario Argento took his turn in 1976, recreating the diner and its customers as a backdrop for his giallo classic Deep Red.
4. Ralph Goings, Tiled Lunch Counter (1979)
Image courtesy RalphGoings.com
Tiled Lunch Counter is just one of the many diner depictions painted by 85-year-old photorealist Ralph Goings. While Goings’ lighting style is brighter than Hopper’s, his works still capture a similar sense of detachment and isolation.
5. Herbert Ross, Pennies from Heaven (1981)
Five years after Argento’s interpretation, director Herbert Ross recreated Hopper’s diner for the 1981 musical Pennies from Heaven, starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters.
6. Ridley Scott, Blade Runner (1982)
Though set in a futuristic world, director Ridley Scott acknowledges the influence of Nighthawks on the visual style of Blade Runner. In Paul M. Sammon’s Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, Scott recalls, “I was constantly waving a reproduction of this painting under the noses of the production team to illustrate the look and mood I was after.”
7. Gottfried Helnwein, Boulevard of Broken Dreams (1984)
Image courtesy Life? Seriously. Funny!
In 1984, Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein reimagined Nighthawks through a pop culture lens when he created Boulevard of Broken Dreams, an almost exact replica of Hopper’s iconic scene, but with patrons replaced by James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, and Marilyn Monroe, all served by Elvis Presley. (Helnwein’s piece later inspired the Green Day song of the same name.)
8. Joyce Carol Oates' Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, 1942 (1997)
Only Hopper truly knows what thoughts run through the minds of the characters in Nighthawks. But Joyce Carol Oates ventured to imagine their inner monologues in her poem Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, 1942, with a focus on the lone woman in the painting. The poem begins:
The three men are fully clothed, long sleeves, even hats, though it’s indoors, and brightly lit, and there’s a woman. The woman is wearing a short-sleeved red dress cut to expose her arms, a curve of her creamy chest; she’s contemplating a cigarette in her right hand, thinking that her companion has finally left his wife but can she trust him?
In 2001, Oates revisited Hopper with the essay Nighthawk: A Memoir of Lost Time.
9. Wim Wenders, The End of Violence (1997)
Wim Wenders may have captured the essence of why filmmakers are so drawn to Hopper’s work when he told Smithsonian Magazine, “You can always tell where the camera is.” In 1997, he became yet another director to recreate Hopper’s iconic diner, this time for a film-within-a-film in The End of Violence.
10. Banksy, Nighthawks (2005)
Image courtesy iCanvas ART
In 2005, renowned street artist Banksy put his own playful spin on Hopper’s iconic painting with his parody, featuring a shirtless soccer hooligan smashing the diner’s window in a drunken rage.
