I considered placing this in the review section, but maybe more folks can play with this idea if it’s here.
From your local library or bookstore procure a book with good prints of Edward Hopper paintings (coffee table editions are best).
Compare Hopper’s work, shot for shot, with scenes in Vertigo.
Although Hitchcock’s film (arguably his kinkiest) chronicles sexual obsession,
it also conveys isolation and anxiety,
which just happen to be the elements that characterize Hopper’s best paintings.
The realm Hopper evokes, one critic says, “is a distinctly personal vision in which the impact of intense colors
and strongly established figures is offset by the introspective melancholy
that is so profoundly characteristic of the individuals who people his images.
Strong lines only emphasize the impression of alienation.”
I think this is immediately clear just from a cursory glance at “Nighthawks” or “Automat,”
the former being one of the most recognized images in American art.
Bear this in mind while contemplating the bold, at times almost aggressive color palette
and framing so effectively implemented in the cinematography of Vertigo.
Compare the atmosphere of “Western Motel” and “The City”
with any of the scenes shot outdoors or in bright sunlight.
Notice how James Stewart’s worried countenance and Kim Novak’s gloomy resignation match
the mood of figures in Hopper’s work; “Sunlight in a Cafeteria” is a fine example.
The sense of doom that pervades every scene in which Novak and Stewart are together seems lifted
right out of “Sunlight on Brownstones” or “Hotel by the Railroad.”
The cool blue-greens of many twilight scenes
(especially that gorgeous shot of a deserted intersection in which a traffic light glows like a beacon),
and the rich browns of Stewart’s spartan apartment, not to mention his wardrobe,
also have analogs in Hopper’s paintings.
Overall, both the film and Hopper’s work possess a remarkably similar dreamlike quality.
Sometimes it is tempting to say that some of Hopper’s images look like scenes from a movie;
in this case the inverse holds true.
Doctor Lemonglow
I considered placing this in the review section, but maybe more folks can play with this idea if it’s here.
From your local library or bookstore procure a book with good prints of Edward Hopper paintings (coffee table editions are best).
Compare Hopper’s work, shot for shot, with scenes in Vertigo.
Although Hitchcock’s film (arguably his kinkiest) chronicles sexual obsession,
it also conveys isolation and anxiety,
which just happen to be the elements that characterize Hopper’s best paintings.
The realm Hopper evokes, one critic says, “is a distinctly personal vision in which the impact of intense colors
and strongly established figures is offset by the introspective melancholy
that is so profoundly characteristic of the individuals who people his images.
Strong lines only emphasize the impression of alienation.”
I think this is immediately clear just from a cursory glance at “Nighthawks” or “Automat,”
the former being one of the most recognized images in American art.
Bear this in mind while contemplating the bold, at times almost aggressive color palette
and framing so effectively implemented in the cinematography of Vertigo.
Compare the atmosphere of “Western Motel” and “The City”
with any of the scenes shot outdoors or in bright sunlight.
Notice how James Stewart’s worried countenance and Kim Novak’s gloomy resignation match
the mood of figures in Hopper’s work; “Sunlight in a Cafeteria” is a fine example.
The sense of doom that pervades every scene in which Novak and Stewart are together seems lifted
right out of “Sunlight on Brownstones” or “Hotel by the Railroad.”
The cool blue-greens of many twilight scenes
(especially that gorgeous shot of a deserted intersection in which a traffic light glows like a beacon),
and the rich browns of Stewart’s spartan apartment, not to mention his wardrobe,
also have analogs in Hopper’s paintings.
Overall, both the film and Hopper’s work possess a remarkably similar dreamlike quality.
Sometimes it is tempting to say that some of Hopper’s images look like scenes from a movie;
in this case the inverse holds true.