Rooms for Tourists

Edward Hopper's paintings of buildings are portraits, in which the human presence is implied but not seen. In Rooms for Tourists, Hopper portrays the exterior of a boarding house in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He made study drawings of the building and then traveled there repeatedly at night while he worked on the painting. The contrast between the warm, electrically lit interior and the darkness of night outside captures the sense of transience and impermanence inherent in the boarding house's impersonal arrivals and departures.

Geography: Made in United States

Culture: American

Period: 20th century

Credit: Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903