Movement · 1910–1960

American Modernism

American painters distil land and city into simplified forms: O'Keeffe's close-up flowers and desert hills, Hopper's hard sunlight on empty streets.

Across 10 works, the colors are mostly brown (31%), gray (23%) and blue (14%). On average the canvases are light, muted and balanced between warm and cool. Signature colors, used far more here than across the collection: silver, dark muted teal, cool white, dark slate and pale muted azure blue.

Color print

The swatches covering most of these canvases, averaged over every work, dark to light.

• MG 206 silver 7.1% of canvas
• MG 223 soot 6.3% of canvas
• MG 171 bone 5.8% of canvas
• MG 211 dark slate 5.6% of canvas
• MG 222 charcoal 5.5% of canvas
• MG 218 graphite 5.2% of canvas
• MG 172 oatmeal 4.6% of canvas
• MG 213 light grey 3.8% of canvas
• MG 177 dark taupe 3.6% of canvas
• MG 212 pale grey 3.1% of canvas
• MG 221 blue black 3.0% of canvas
• MG 176 taupe 2.8% of canvas
• MG 207 pale slate 2.4% of canvas
• MG 094 light muted blue 2.0% of canvas
• MG 099 dark muted blue 2.0% of canvas
• MG 204 cool white 2.0% of canvas

Measurements

Lightness

0.55

Contrast

0.50

Vividness

0.030

Warmth

+0.12

Complexity

131 cells

Hue range

0.46

Focus

0.04

Composition

Averaged over 10 works: 52% of the visual weight in the right half, 54% in the lower half; symmetry 0.29; 46% calm space; half of the detail in 25% of the canvas. Measured from each image, not a rule the painters followed.

Artists

• Edward Hopper 1882–1967
• Georgia O'Keeffe 1887–1986

Works

• Blue and Green Music, 1919–1921
• Girl at Sewing Machine, 1921
• House by the Railroad, 1925
• The Shelton with Sunspots, N.Y., 1926
• Automat, 1927
• Black Cross, New Mexico, 1929
• Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, 1931
• Gas, 1940
• Nighthawks, 1942
• Sky above Clouds IV, 1965