Isolation in Hopper's "Sunlight in a Cafeteria"

Over the countless times I’ve been to Yale University’s Art Gallery, I’ve fallen in love with numerous pieces and artists. One of such artists is the American painter Edward Hopper, whose portraits of seemingly mundane events, with just a tinge of existential dread and underlying pessimism has enthralled me from the time I laid my eyes on a piece of his in the collection. With this deep love for everything Edward Hopper did in his career, my time at the gallery was relatively underwhelming, as I wasn’t so much looking for any art piece to analyze and decrypt as I was looking for a Hopper piece to delve into heavily.

From the moment I saw the painting, “Sunlight in a Cafeteria”, I knew that would be the particular piece I would be choosing. As of late, I have been interested in the phenomenon of feeling alone while in a vibrant landscape and with other people, and that’s exactly what the piece showcases.

“Sunlight in a Cafeteria” only contains two figures, one man and one woman, who are both seated in a single room, presumably a cafe, for lunch. The room itself is very open and light, evoking a sense of life and happiness in the scene.  Furthermore, the cafe itself is set on a maybe residential side street of a city, pushing the feeling that this painting is wholly concerned with vitality and the joy of being close to one another as humans in day to day life. 

The color choices, very light and airy tones, would also lead to that notion. The sunlight breathes life into the piece, making already light yellows and beiges even lighter, alluding to the presumed improvement human contact and interpersonal relations give. 

Though, when looking closer, immediately it is shown that this isn’t what Hopper was going for in his piece. The positioning of the figures is the most immediate showing of this darker underlying meaning. The man is looking in the general direction of the woman he’s eating lunch with, but not exactly at her. This small off-center placement of the male figure’s head shows that he has little to no concern about actual human contact. The only other person he could interact with is but a few inches to his right, and he is acting as if she isn’t there. Not because of any sort of nervousness in introducing himself to her, but because of the sheer disconnect the man feels. He is more enthralled by a potted plant than by the opportunity to interact and feel with the only person available. To the same extent, the woman is to blame. She’s quite literally more concerned with twiddling her thumbs than wanting, like the man, any sort of human relations. The groundwork for the two patrons of this restaurant are set and set up beautifully, and they’re wasting it for their own selfish needs. 

The plant itself represents isolation. The look of the plant is very similar to that of a succulent. Succulents are a type of plant known for their very hands-off way of growing. The only of a succulent needs to tend to it maybe once a month, and it’ll have a sufficient amount of water. With the man looking at the plant, Hopper may be calling to the feeling of not necessarily feeling like, as a modern people, the lack of dependence or want we have on each other. Ro stay fulfilled in our American society, and even the American society of nearly 60 years ago, other people aren’t necessary. 

Not only is there a figurative divide in the two characters, but a literal partition in between the two people was created. In between the gazes of the man and woman sits a very faint line of shadow. The shadow, being obviously black, or in this case grey, is a stark contrast to the colors in which are present throughout the rest of the painting. The parts of the room that aren’t touched by the few human eyes sitting in the cafeteria are shone and made vibrant by the sun, while the parts in which the interaction and love can be found was dampened by a shadow. 

In the background of this piece is the most interesting of arguments made by Hopper. A very two-dimensional looking door, with no obvious way in our out sits in the middle of this piece. While it’s very reminiscent of a revolving door in appearance, the fact that there seems to be no openings leads to this very suffocating feeling of the room. The fact that nobody s allowed to come in or out of the restaurant could be a parallel to the fact that in this now very individual and isolated world, no one is allowed into anyone’s heart organically, as well as no real emotion is allowed out. Only emotions that are to appease the wants and needs of the people we are in immediate contact with are let out.

Being set in an urban environment, naturally this painting deals directly with the high class and bourgeoisie. This painting, in its most simple sense is a study of how money, wealth, and retention isolates us, even when we’re in the middle of many other humans just like us, and the complacency that so many of us show when given an opportunity to break out of the established mold that, even if we’re not surrounded by money 24/7, can create a loneliness within us.