The film director Cecil B. DeMille's 
early silent films

had a dark, moody quality
that was characterized

by the director as "Rembrand lighting".

Movies have been inspired by fine art

from the very beginning
of the cinema industry,

sometimes in the form of a sequence,

sometimes in the art direction
or the position of the actors,

or sometimes in the "feel" of a movie.

For some films, the homage is obvious,
in others more enigmatic.

Many filmmakers and art directors
take direct inspiration from artists

to inform their own creative vision,

often referencing scenes
that are already familiar to us

in specific works of art.

As the French new wave director 
Jean-Luc Goddard said:

"It's not where you take things from
it's where you take them to."

Edward Hopper is seen as one 
of the first 20th century artist

to be influenced by the cinema.

He was an artist, more than any other,
who loved cinema — and cinema loved him.

They both looked to each other
for stylistic interpretation

and both created worlds 
of extraordinary imagination.

As Hopper's work became more well-known
over the years to the general public

filmmakers made more self-conscious
references to his paintings.

This exerimental film by Gustav Deutsch
uses 13 beautifully recreated paintings

by Hopper to tell the story of a woman
spanning three decades.

In 2020 Wim Wenders released
this "love letter" to Edward Hopper.

"In front of Edward Hopper's paintings
I always get this feeling

"that they are frames from movies
that were never made,

and I start wondering:

"What's the story that is beginning here?

"What will happen to these 
characters in the next moment?"

Edward Hopper was 13 years old
when the first motion pictures were shown.

He was in his late forties
when talking pictures came,

and he died just as Bonnie and Clyde 
was being released.

You could say his life 
was tied to cinematic history.

His work was inspired 
not just by his movie obsession,

but by the very act 
of going to the cinema,

and we see this in this early etching 
depicting two isolated figures

looking down on an unseen screen.

We see cinemas in his other paintings,
as well of course with his masterpiece:

"New York Movie".

Filmmakers would hook on
to Hopper's creations

— and return the compliments

by turning to him
for stylistic inspiration.

German Expressionism was one
of his early influences.

Films he saw in Paris at the turn
of the 20th century

— and the high angle images
he produced around this period,

would later be replicated 
by a new avant-garde generation.

His career would really take off
during the great depression of the 1930s,

and the films of that period 
— and his paintings —

reflected the dark pessimism at the time,

a time of great insecurity.

World War II brings another period
of uncertainty

and gives birth to Film Noir.

Woman: "I can't stand it anymore 
what if they do hang me?"

These dark films would look
for inspiration

directly from Hopper's paintings

who was himself looking 
for inspiration in the movies.

It was these films shot in Hollywood
in the 1930s and 40s

which Hopper really loved.

Films with a voyeuristic edge,

set in an unnamed city,
an ambiguous setting.

Films whose aesthetics were themselves

derived from German Expressionism.

Like Hopper, these films 
use dark shadows and stark lightinga

to create an extreme contrast 
between light and dark.

But with classic Film Noir 
it is not just "style",

it is all about the tone,

as it is with Hopper's paintings.

Both take a familiar narrative element,

and apply layer after layer
of possible meaning.

ambiguous relationships, sexual tension,
a cynical eye

and underlying existential philosophy,

were all features we see

in both Hopper's paintings
and cinema of this period.

Woman; "Accident insurance?"

In common with Film Noir,

the subject Hopper
returned to again and again

was the hardened and stony-faced 
female protagonist.

As I discussed in my main film on Hopper,

he had a disastrous love life
and unhappy marriage

and he often used women 
as a vehicle to channel his unhappiness.

It is in this early watercolour

that we first see the unhappy
and discontented female lead.

In this painting she is the wife
being ignored by her husband.

Here, a defeated woman
contemplates her lot in life.

And here, a sullen-faced girlfriend
ignores her partner.

It is in "Nighthawks" that we see
her as a classic Femme Fatale.

I sometimes feel
as if all of Hopper's women

are ready to walk off frame
and commit a misdemeanor.

Woman: "If you don't mind".

(Gunshot)

Alfred Hitchcock, no stranger
to the icy female lead,

spoke openly of Hopper's influence

and we see evidence throughout
Hitchcock's films.

They are very much alike 
in their love of suspense and ambiguity,

and in their interest in themes
of voyeurism, loneliness and isolation.

Not to mention... windows.

"This is the scene of the crime.

"A crime of passion, filmed in a way
you have never seen before."

Like Hitchcock, it is 
what Hopper chose to exclude

in his paintings which adds tension.

The narrative power lies in what 
is obscured or unseen.

One of Hopper's images directly
influenced Hitchcock.

But it was a big influence

on so many other films,
and even illustrations of the day.

Hitchcock: "An old house...

"which is ..., if I may say so,
a little more sinister looking,

"less innocent than the motel itself."

We saw in the longer film 
how Hopper's "Nighthawks"

was inspired by a book by Hemingway

and how the subsequent film version
was then inspired by "Nighthawks".

A great example of this symbiotic 
and mutually beneficial relationship

can be found in an obscure 
and rarely film

released two years before 
he completed "Nighthawks".

I think, looking at details such as 
the corner setting,

the position of the sidewalk,

and even a soda jerk 
wearing a similar cap,

this may have been one of the main
inspirations for Hopper's diner.

An entire generation of film directors
would be influenced by Hopper,

and that aesthetic would be
instantly recognizable

as a certain type of "American landscape"`

not just aesthetically,
but in terms of mood.

["All the paintings of Edward Hopper

[could be taken from 
one long movie about America,

[each one, the beginning of a new scene."
— Wim Wenders]

David Lynch, another American fan,
would also reference

many of Hopper's paintings in his films.

["I like many painters, 
but I love Francis Bacon the most,

[and Edward Hopper" — David Lynch]

Lynch, like Hopper, peeled back the facade
of the perfect American life

to expose sinister "goings-on".

And in the third season of Twin Peaks

he used the painter's references
quite liberally.

Hopper's vision of American life,
has had a huge impact

on how the rest of the world pictures
the United States.

It is a world that today
we still call "Hopper-esque".

He is what we think of
as a quintessential American artist,

yet he was also a major influence
on so many non-American filmmakers,

who saw an intensity in Hopper,
a sense of emptiness,

and a lack of communication
that we can all understand.

Many of the filmmakers
have their own fascination

with the American dream
— and the dark side behind it.

They recognize the themes
of disconnection.

They see that the psychology
behind a Hopper painting

can be translated into any culture
and any language,

and they made Hopper one of their own.

Michelangelo Antonioni said: "The theme
of most of my films is loneliness"

and his films typically 
featured bored lovers,

whose lives are blighted by quiet despair
and existential unhappiness.

He professed to being stylistically
inspired by Hopper

(as well as Giorgio de Chirico).

Roy Andersson's films
are instantly recognizable

for their stylized presentation
and painterly approach,

and the director, whose films show

the alienation and solitude
of modern life,

cites Hopper as a major influence.

Like Hopper's paintings,

Andersson carefully stages
every single frame.

His sets are elaborately built
over several months,

and his films sometimes 
take four years to make!

Andersson's themes — like Hopper's —

often leave it up to the viewer 
to guess what is happening

outside the picture frame.

We complete the picture.

The diner in "Nighthawks",
his most iconic image,

and possibly his most cinematic,

has been recreated time and again
in the cinema.

The diner has become a short cut
to "emotional dysfunction".

Woman: "I know I can't rely 
on you, Arthur.

"Not for anything."

Man: "There's a lot of bad boys 
out there.

Woman: "I know."

Woman: "But I got eyes 
in the back of my head."

(Gunshot)

Director: "Cut!"

Filmmakers continue to be inspired
by Edward Hopper

whose works still resonate
in the 21st century.

And his influence is felt even
in a new generation of K-pop stars.

Edward Hopper, the biggest fan of cinema,
would have been astonished

to know his influence would still be felt
by so many young filmmakers

and even Korean pop stars, decades 
after he created his images.

But who knows?

Maybe in another life, he would have 
been directing films himself.

Director: "Cut!"

Edward Hopper: "Could that be?"

Woman: "Is there a cue when I enter?"