"Nighthawks," is one of the most appreciated paintings of American art, and certainly the best known of the American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967).
The painting portrays the alienating presence of large modern cities: several individuals gathered in a luminous spot and surrounded by darkness. The strong coffee lights are barely able to keep the night outside, and there, anything can be happening.
Psychologically speaking, these people are isolated, thrown into a group, but locked within themselves. Hopper was able to capture the dark magic that happens in the cities at night, when everything is empty and the few people who happen to meet there seem infinitely more mysterious than in the light of day.
Hopper said he based the painting on an actual restaurant where he lived in Manhattan, "on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet," though he admitted having taken certain creative freedoms in the transition from the real to the artistic. Many tried to find the place, but without success.