Edward Hopper Exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in DC

Few works of art move me the way Edward Hopper's do. They capture a time and place we long to have been a part of. My daughter came home from Virginia Tech to see the exhibition of her favorite artist, Edward Hopper, at the National Gallery of Art in DC and invited me along.

We left in the morning, grabbed a cup of Chai Tea Latte from Panera Bread (yum!), drove to the metro in Springfield/Franconia, and took the train into the Smithsonian. There we walked the few blocks on an absolutely gorgeous fall day to the East Building and began our tour of one of America's finest realist artists.

The exhibition started off showcasing Hopper's earlier sketchings and progressed to his final works before his death in 1967. It ends with an ironic photograph of Hopper himself walking down a New York sidewalk in his final days...peaceful, inward, and extremely private - very much like his paintings.

Throughout the exhibit, you feel immersed in the quiet solitude that was introspective, private and genuinely American. Even though we milled about amongst hundreds of other viewers, it was as if we were all alone. It's hard to explain other than to say that all spectators were as enthralled in the quietness that was quintessentially Hopper. Click on the Gallery photo and take a quick tour of his works.

The exhibition is on display from September 16, 2007 to January 21, 2008 and later in February will be moved to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Read all about this wonderful artist and see his paintings here...or better yet, grab the metro and go to the East Building of the National Gallery of Art and visit it yourself. There are audio tours for $5.00 and a short film mid-way through the exhibition narrated by Steve Martin, a long-time fan and owner of many of Hopper's works.

Irene Morales Ward, Northern Virginia Real Estate