New York Movie, 1939

Kim Conaty: New York Movie is one of Hopper's most radical compositions. It's remarkable to have a painting where nearly down the middle is a wall that seems to almost slice the space in half. It's as if he's decided, rather than to create one scene in the painting, to give us multiple areas of view. Oftentimes in a painting there will be a central place for a viewer's eye to rest, and here it is nearly impossible.

Melinda Lang: The theater was a favorite subject of Hopper's and he depicted theaters and theater going throughout his career. It was also a form of escape. 

He started going on this routine where he would pop into theaters in the mornings, sketch different elements from the architecture to the screen, to the staircase and the empty rows of seats. And then in the afternoons, he would paint in his studio. 

During Hopper's routine of sketching in theaters, he would work on small sketchbook sheets, which he could take with him on the train or on his walks and then bring back with him to the theater. In the drawings nearby you’ll see that Hopper inscribed the names of the theaters on the sheets themselves: The Globe, The Strand, The Republic and The Palace.

Kim Conaty: With the theaters in particular, I do wonder if he set out to find the one perfect theater that would be the subject and the site of this painting. But it also feels in keeping with Hopper, that in order to create a theater that would represent a type of theater and that would speak in more universal terms, that to be able to bring in elements of many and thus not simply one—in fact actually opens this up to a composition that could be more about what does a New York theater feel like?