ART GALLERY - Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the best-known American realist of the inter-war period and one of my favourits. Gas, 1940, oil in canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

It was his famous painting of a lone gas station attendant standing beside three gas pumps in a rural gas station at dusk. The gas station is surrounded by dark woods. It is in the middle of nowhere. The attendant is the lone person in the scene. The sole light is from the old-time gas pump heads. I was suddenly aware of the radiance of these lowly gas pump heads. They were all that was between this man and darkness. In that moment I realized we must take our light wherever it comes from. These low-tech gas pumps provided all the light there was, and it was more than enough. Read more here.