Painter - Edward Hopper (Sadness)

In the next experiment on how context and worlds conveys particular emotions, the emotion I will be focusing on will be sadness and I will be looking into the illustrations of Edward Hopper, particularly his illustrations of open rooms, to explore the use of colours, space, composition and subject matters on how it can convey the emotion of sadness. 

Rooms by the Sea (1951)

Office in a Small City (1953)

Room in Brookyln (1932)

Stairway (1949)

Sun in an Empty Room (1963)

His illustrations of open rooms which focuses on the use of colour, as well as incorporating reoccurring visual subject matters such as windows, chairs and a person, conveys the sense of grief, helplessness and loss. Unlike loneliness, when people experience sadness, they tend to shut themselves away in a room, excluding themselves from social settings and society. These particular illustrations of open rooms, which looks like rooms in a home environment, relates to the idea of exclusion, where the windows/doors reflects as the door to a social setting, or an escape from the struggle of sadness, while the room itself reflects on the exclusion the person is shutting themselves in. The empty environment in which the illustration is set, reflects on the grief and/or loss, where nothing but emptiness fills the room, representing the hollow state of the person who is experiencing nothing but sadness. 

Breaking down on the compositions of Edward Hoppers’ illustrations. In most if his ‘open room’ illustrations the perspective is very simple and I think the use of careful use of space, object placement and the use of various colours helps to capture the sense of ‘hollowness’ in the rooms. 

Manipulating and removing subject matters on some of his work to explore the impact it may have as well to exaggerate more on the ‘empty’ feel of exclusion. 

Experimenting on colours and different environments to see if it would have the same feel/approach to Hoppers’ work.

Conclusion piece on the exploration of Edward Hopper’s illustrations that conveys the sense of sadness. Instead of approaching the idea of using the ‘open room’ to visually convey the empty space as a representation of sadness and exclusion, I use visual elements such as the windows or doors to communicate the idea of hiding away from the social setting. The idea of a single window not lit as the others is to represent the exclusion of one shutting away from the others, while the other lit windows acts as a collective to represent that ‘lively’ social setting. When one experience sadness, they rather be left alone, cutting themselves off from society, hence the window not being lit like the others, metaphorically shows that they would rather be left alone, feeling hollow and lifeless due to helplessness, grief, or being in another negative emotional state (depression, anxiety, loneliness) that prevents them from moving forward.