Talk:Western Motel

Possible sources

APK hi :-) (talk) 10:43, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

• Western Motel, Yale University Art Gallery
• Study for Western Motel, Yale University Art Gallery
• Edward Hopper and the American Hotel, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

• "Outdoors-Indoors: A 2000-Year-Old Space Problem in Western Art", Nordenfalk, Carl, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 117, No. 4, August 15, 1973, pg. 257
• "Reflections on the Automobile in American Art", Karlstrom, Paul J., Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1980, pg. 20
• "A Vision of Hopper and His Shadow", Muchnic, Suzanne, Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1995
• "He Only Had Eyes for Her: The Woman Behind Hopper's Singular Vision", Zibart, Eve, The Washington Post, September 21, 2007
• "In a Lonely Place", Crewdson, Gregory, Aperture, No. 190, Spring 2008, pp. 80
• "A Milkmaid Prepares for a Lengthy Trip", Vogel, Carol, The New York Times, May 29, 2009, ProQuest 434076878
• "Edward Hopper painted a motel bedroom in 1957. Now you can check in and sleep there", Reynolds, Christopher, Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2019, ProQuest 2413371822
• "A New Edward Hopper-Themed Motel Room Allows You to Experience All the Alienation of the Artist’s Classic Paintings", Goldstein, Caroline, Artnet, August 14, 2019
• "Thanks to the Hopper Hotel Experience, You Can Now Spend a Night at the Museum", Solly, Meilan, Smithsonian, August 16, 2019
• "Stay Overnight in Edward Hopper's 'Western Motel' Painting Recreated at a Museum", Schuster, Clayton, Observer, August 16, 2019, ProQuest 2274558632
• Edward Hopper Exhibit Evokes Isolation and Solitude During Mid-20th Century", Stewart, Ian M., WCVE-FM, October 30, 2019
• "Night at the Museum", Dalla Villa Adams, Amanda, Style Weekly, November 12, 2019
• "What's Better Than Seeing a Hopper Painting? Sleeping in One", Boyer-Dry, Margot, The New York Times, November 21, 2019, ProQuest 2316688221
• "This Edward Hopper exhibition on hotels is worth an extended stay", Smee, Sebastian, The Washington Post, November 27, 2019, ProQuest 2319401096
• "1 Night In An Edward Hopper Hotel Room? It's Less Lonely Than You Might Think", Stamberg, Susan, NPR, January 2, 2020, ProQuest 2331871916
• "Living Art", Schmidt, Markus, Virginia Living, January 10, 2020
• "Enigmatic Isolation", Spiegelman, Willard, The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2021, ProQuest 2558818078

• Further reading - Western Motel: Edward Hopper and Contemporary Art, Wien, Kunsthalle, Moderne Kunst & Verlag Fur, 2008, ISBN 9783940748515

Issues and errata

• completing the painting in either February or March 1957. This might be out of date as the Hopper Encylcopedia solidifies it as March and gives April as when Hopper started the watercolor.
• It turns out the claims about the woman staring at the viewer are likely wrong. Mazow points out that when you look closely at the painting, the lady is looking to her right (our left). This tells me that she's looking at the bags, and is ready to leave, but that's my own opinion.
  • Fixed.
• It's a green Buick similar to the '54 Buick owned by Hopper. The Time magazine interview that was published while they were at Rustic Canyon on December 24 describes it as "a green and white 1954 three-hole Buick sedan". The Hoppers were not happy about the interview, and it does take some cheap shots at them, portraying them as somewhat odd, which apparently, they were, like most artists.
  • I have added the Buick to the background section, but there's additional info by Mazow about the vehicle that should go in the analysis section as well.
• The same curtains appear in two paintings. Need to mention them.
  • To do.
• There's some indications in the literature, scattered here and there, that the woman is not Hopper's wife. Levin mentions that Jo was upset about a woman pursuing Edward at the art colony, but nobody has drawn a connection between the two things.
  • To do.
• Note, there are images of mesas in El Paso that perfectly match the one in this painting, but none are free to use. The ones available on commons are at the wrong angle, with the matching mesa just off frame.

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. You can locate your hook here. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Zzz plant (talk) 21:34, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

• ... that you could sleep inside an Edward Hopper painting?
• ALT1: ... that art fans slept inside a hotel room inside a museum, based on a motel room inside a painting?
• ALT2: ... that art fans slept in a hotel room based on a motel room inside a painting inside a museum?

• Source: Stamberg, Susan (January 2, 2025). "1 Night In An Edward Hopper Hotel Room? It's Less Lonely Than You Might Think". NPR. Quote: "It isn't hard to imagine yourself inside an Edward Hopper painting — having a coffee at a late-night diner, or staring out the bedroom window at the bright morning sun...Now, for $150 a night, you can sleep in one — or a reproduction of one — at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Designers have constructed a 3D version of Hopper's 1957 Western Motel and invited Hopper fans to sleep over."

• • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Allan Ludwig

5x expanded by Viriditas (talk) and APK (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 52 past nominations.

Viriditas (talk) 11:47, 29 January 2026 (UTC).

• It is well-written, sourced, no copyvios seen (18.7%). The article was 5x expanded. The hook is interesting and cited. The article meets the required length. QPQ done. This is good to go. Damian Vo (talk) 15:51, 30 January 2026 (UTC)
  • @Damian Vo: I've been told that ALT0 is not allowed, unfortunately. I have offered ALT1 in its place. Viriditas (talk) 03:59, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

The "inside" bits are a little confusing. I was thinking of something more direct, like these:

• ALT3: ...that guests could book an overnight stay inside a museum in a recreation of Edward Hopper's Western Motel?
• ALT4: ...that a museum once turned an oil painting into a rentable hotel room?
• ALT5: ...that guests once paid $150 a night to stay inside a physical recreation of Edward Hopper's Western Motel?

– Damian Vo (talk) 07:37, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

Apologies, I was playing Stairway to Heaven beneath the sign that said "NO Stairway to Heaven!" What about:

• ALT6: .... that a motel room inside an Edward Hopper painting was simulated in 3D, allowing guests to sleep there?

It still allows me to play with the nesting, fractal nature...And it makes me wonder... Viriditas (talk) 10:57, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

Approving ALT6, sounds fine to me :) Damian Vo (talk) 14:19, 3 February 2026 (UTC)