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  • Essay / Analysis of Painting “Early Sunday Morning” by Edward Hopper

    Early Sunday Morning is the famous art of Edward Hopper and is well known for its visual symbols. This painting was created in 1930 in oil on canvas to depict a typical Sunday morning at a New York market. The original painting is currently owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art located in New York. This painting is a perfect combination of art elements which makes it an ideal representation of the principles of the designs. These design principles further describe the hidden symbols of the painting like the silence of Sunday morning. In this essay, I will make an artistic analysis of this painting. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The main element in analyzing the illustrated artwork is light and the value added by light. Sunlight is depicted using shadows and it is clear from the shadows that the sun is to the right. As it is the morning time that is represented by the title of the painting and reflected in the painting itself, the sun must be facing east, meaning the stores face south and the viewer of the painting is oriented towards the north. Shadows can be seen for the fire candle, windows, street contours and many other things. This illustration of shadows with the use of light and dark colors adds value to the painting. The painting shows that the areas exposed to light in the morning are brighter and shiny while the shaded areas appear a bit dull. So the concept of lit areas and shaded areas adds variety to the image. Variety as a principle of design is strongly illustrated through many other varied artistic elements like colors and shapes. The artist used the complementary color palette to create an attractive element. Using the red-orange color for the buildings and the blue color for the sky creates a vivid contrast because these colors are opposite each other in the color wheel. The dark green color under the roof and the light green colors for the street add variety and value to the painting in terms of color intensity. Additionally, the use of darker colors for the storefront, surrounded by light-colored borders and different colors inside the windows, makes it more diverse. Different geometric shapes, for example, the dark colored square shape of the store front, the rectangular shaped windows, the circular topper of the colorful pole make the image less monotonous. Edward Hopper focused a lot on symmetry and repetition as design principles to create a balanced painting and this design is brought by him through the repeating shapes. The upper part of the building has repeating window shapes and these shapes are the same and almost equidistant. Then the store fronts are also the same and equidistant from each other. So, all of this contributes to the symmetry and rhythm of the image's composition. Although there are a few elements that lead to asymmetry, such as the fire candle, the colorful barber pole, the different window colors, and the different storefront borders, symmetrical objects dominate overall. Seen from a broader perspective, the colorful barber pole can be seen as balancing the fire candle asymmetrically. In addition to symmetry, the repetition of the shapes of the windows and storefronts conveys the unity of the painting in its formation. This unity factor brings out the concept that the image is continuous in its formation. This work of art is.