Automat, 1927

Narrator: Here, Hopper shows us a woman in an automat—a fast food restaurant where the food is served by a vending machine. The lights reflected in the window seem to point straight at her—and so does the shadow of the radiator on the floor to the left. By focusing the composition on the woman in this way, Hopper seems to underscore the fact that she’s the only person present. But is the mood one of contemplative solitude? Or alienation? He leaves it up to the viewer. 

Artist Kambui Olujimi has pointed out that Hopper seems as focused on the light as he is on the woman. 

Kambui Olujimi: The light is operating as a character. And I would say it animates a space that wouldn't be nearly as seductive. And so the light, he makes a lot of room for the light to play, for the light to be a character and to have its own autonomy and bring you in and describe and conceal the space that we're looking at.