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SFMOMA acquires Edward Hopper’s Intermission (1963)

Edward Hopper - Intermission

Edward Hopper
Intermission, 1963
oil on canvas, 40 x 60 in.
collection SFMOMA, purchase in part through gifts of the Fisher and Schwab families
© Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by the Whitney Museum of American Art; photo: courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

SFMOMA acquires Edward Hopper’s Intermission (1963) The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announced the acquisition of Edward Hopper’s Intermission (1963), one of the artist’s largest and most ambitious paintings.]]>

March 23, 2012, source: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

“Intermission” was painted in March and April of 1963, and was one of the last four paintings that Hopper finished before his death in 1967. One of the last significant works by the artist remaining in private hands, “Intermission” was acquired from Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, in part through gifts from the Fisher and Schwab families.

Intermission is an iconic work, exemplary of Hopper’s late period and style, and establishes him as a contemporary master beyond his historical achievements of the early twentieth century,” says Gary Garrels, SFMOMA Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture. “This acquisition brings to the Bay Area a truly exceptional work by Hopper, arguably the most profound visual poet of individual human experience that this country has ever produced,” added SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra.

The work was included in his second retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art in 1964 (the Whitney’s first retrospective of Hopper’s work was in 1950). “Intermission” was also included in the artist’s third Whitney retrospective, which traveled to SFMOMA in 1982 in its original Van Ness location.

In conjunction with this acquisition, the Museum has deacessioned another work by Hopper —”Bridle Path” (1939)- which is awaiting sale at auction with Sotheby’s.

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SFMOMA acquires Edward Hopper's Intermission (1963)