Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967): Automat, 1927 (Oil on canvas, 71.4 cm × 91.4 cm. Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines) - Hopper, the quintessential realist painter of 20th century America, portrayed the commonplace and made the ordinary poetic. Hopper’s empty places and solitary figures repeatedly suggested pangs of loneliness to a public increasingly interested in psychoanalytic thought and aware of the growing anonymity of contemporary urban life. “It’s probably a reflection of my own, if I may say, loneliness. I don’t know. It could be the whole human condition.” – Hopper