The Railroad

Edward Hopper

1922

An etching by Edward Hopper that uses a quiet, shadowed scene of railroad tracks, telegraph poles, and a solitary walker to probe the mood of isolation at the edges of modern American life.

You immediately notice the heavy cross-hatched darkness in the foreground that barely reveals a lone figure, while a line of leaning telephone poles and a distant row of rooflines recede into a pale, empty sky, creating a tense stillness.

This 1922 print applies Hopper’s preoccupation with light, silence, and built forms to the medium of etching, helping to make visible how early twentieth-century infrastructure and urban growth reshaped everyday experience and modern sensibility.

Palette

Art Terms

Etching Print Landscape Built environment Urbanization Modern art

Exhibitions

Edward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition

1933

Paintings by 19 Living Americans

1929

Recent American Woodcuts and Prints by Marin, Hopper and Weber

1952

American Watercolors; Lettering and Arrangements in Poster Design

1941