In a 1962 interview with art historian Katharine Kuh, Edward Hopper remarked that he didn’t intend his iconic painting Nighthawks (1942) to be a particularly lonely work. He conceded, however, that “Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.” As if simmering beneath the surface, this quiet solitude inherent in city life pervades Hopper’s vision of America, from the silent couple in Chop Suey (1929) or the late-night paper-pushers in Office at Night (1940).
Today, many contemporary artists are depicting city scenes from a similarly watchful point of view, embodying the model of the flâneur—an urban observer leisurely strolling through the city, taking in the sights without becoming an active participant. Skylines, in these contemporary works, tower and glow, occasionally illuminating or overshadowing pedestrians, while passersby—often faceless—stroll the city streets. Moreover, in the digital age, smartphones are everywhere, and contemporary artists portray what any observer in New York, London, or Paris might see: people navigating the concrete expanses alone, absorbed in their tiny screens.
Here, we highlight eight contemporary artists whose works pause to take a closer look at city life.
Anton van Dalen
B. 1936, Amstelveen, Netherlands.
D. 2024, New York.
For much of his life in New York, Anton van Dalen maintained a pigeon coop atop his East Village apartment. After moving to the neighborhood in 1966, van Dalen spent his entire adult life documenting its transformation through surreal cityscapes and perhaps his most noteworthy series, the monochrome “Night Street Drawings.” These works, such as the graphite illustration Abandoned Car with Dog and TV (1977), take a closer look at the underrepresented, more dilapidated corners of city life.
Elsewhere, in Self-Portrait with Pigeon Coop Looking North (2014), van Dalen illustrated himself among his pigeons above the East Village, with the cityscape rendered in vibrant purples and yellows. Notably, the painting also features a colorless, run-down church building on the left margin, adding a poignant contrast to the changing city surroundings.
On June 25, 2024, van Dalen passed away in his East Village apartment at 86. His last solo exhibition, “Doves: Where They Live and Work,” was presented by P·P·O·W in 2022.