The Long Leg

Maker Edward Hopper (American, 1882 - 1967)

Collections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1935

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions20 x 30 1/4 in. (50.8 x 76.8 cm.)

Signedl.r. Edward Hopper

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation

Status

Not on view

Label TextEdward Hopper's paintings are characterized by isolation, melancholy, and loneliness. The Long Leg depicts a sailboat near the Long Point Light at Provincetown, Massachusetts, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The boat sails against the wind in a zigzag series of short and long tacks, or legs. Hopper's precise observation of light and of the behavior of the boat link him to a tradition of American Realism, but the stark, reductive composition and mood of isolation reflect the abstract, impersonal spirit of Modernism.

Object number83.8.25