Between 1906 and 1910, Hopper visited Paris three times. He was working part-time as an illustrator for an advertising agency and he hated the job. So Paris was a breath of fresh air as well as a chance to learn from the many artists who had come to the city before him.
Hopper stayed at 45 Rue de Lille in the 7th arrondissement, hosted by an evangelical ministry. He led a solitary life there, wandering the left bank, setting his easel up as he went. The works show his preoccupation with capturing light and spontaneity, inspired by the Impressionists who painted the same streets, river, and churches before him. Nothing missed his sharp eye — from the staircase of his apartment building to les lavoirs, the laundromats by the Seine.
Hopper’s Paris paintings are clearly affected by the Impressionist school. Yet he also emulated the styles of the Realists, especially Degas and Manet. Their influence is clear both in Hopper’s palette and his (sometimes heavy-handed) application of paint. Cubism, all the rage in Paris at the time, can be seen in Hopper’s asymmetrical compositions and geometric treatment of the architecture.
However, Hopper wasn’t just in France to imitate the work of the masters. Even this early in his career, the Paris paintings show that he was well on the way to developing his personal style. Specifically, he begins exploring what will become one of the enduring themes in his work: urban solitude. His close attention to light and desire to capture a feeling of stillness in a single moment is also something these works attest to.
Most of Hopper’s works painted in Paris are urban landscapes with only the suggestion of people, but he also did several watercolor studies of figures. Following the French tradition of depicting types, in these paintings Hopper depicts characters he came across on the streets of Paris. The etchings of the 19th-century artist Charles Meryon were a source of inspiration for these works.