After Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and Grant Wood’s American Gothic, easily one of the best-known paintings on display at the Art Institute of Chicago is Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. I once wrote about how the constant parodying of American Gothic has resulted in people doubting whether they’re seeing the real thing. The same can be said for Nighthawks, which is so widely recognized in American Art that homages have been made all over the place from literature and music to film and television and other paintings. The artwork was recreated as a set in the 1981 musical Pennies from Heaven and even inspired lyrics to Tom Waits 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner. Loyal readers of this blog also know how many hours I have spent in my life observing people looking at art.
Considering the Art Institute of Chicago is probably the museum I know better than any other museum in the world, I have enjoyed watching the reactions of visitors/tourists who see these famous paintings for the first time. People are already so familiar with these artworks before they’ve even seen them in person that it’s always interesting to notice the length of time they spend looking at it compared to the other pieces on display. It’s a bit like that scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when Cameron Frye stares at the painting, which just so happens to be set at the Art Institute. But I also know this is Tumblr, the kind of place where people enjoy pictures more than words, so I’ll stop rambling. So here are some images I found of people looking at Nighthawks. Enjoy!
