Cage Cod Morning by Edward Hopper, 1950. Hopper’s paintings have often been seen by others as having a narrative or thematic content that the artist himself may not have intended. Much meaning can be added to a painting by its title, but the titles of Hopper’s paintings were sometimes chosen by others, or were selected by Hopper and his wife in a way that makes it unclear whether they have any real connection with the artist’s meaning. For example, Hopper once told an interviewer that he was “fond of Cage, Early Sunday Morning… but it wasn’t necessarily Sunday. That word was tacked on later by someone else.”[83] The tendency to read thematic or narrative content into Hopper’s paintings, that Hopper himself had not intended, extended even to his wife. When Jo Hopper commented on the figure in Cage Cod Morning “It’s a woman looking out to see if the weather’s good enough to hang out her wash,” Hopper retorted, “Did I say that? You’re making it Norman Rockwell. From my point of view she’s just looking out the window. While Nicolas Cage and his shotgun stare daggers at the back of her head.”

Cage Cod Morning by Edward Hopper, 1950.

Hopper’s paintings have often been seen by others as having a narrative or thematic content that the artist himself may not have intended. Much meaning can be added to a painting by its title, but the titles of Hopper’s paintings were sometimes chosen by others, or were selected by Hopper and his wife in a way that makes it unclear whether they have any real connection with the artist’s meaning. For example, Hopper once told an interviewer that he was “fond of Cage, Early Sunday Morning… but it wasn’t necessarily Sunday. That word was tacked on later by someone else.”[83]

The tendency to read thematic or narrative content into Hopper’s paintings, that Hopper himself had not intended, extended even to his wife. When Jo Hopper commented on the figure in Cage Cod Morning “It’s a woman looking out to see if the weather’s good enough to hang out her wash,” Hopper retorted, “Did I say that? You’re making it Norman Rockwell. From my point of view she’s just looking out the window. While Nicolas Cage and his shotgun stare daggers at the back of her head.”