Adam Weinberg: At first glance, this painting by Edward Hopper looks like a scene you might come across in real life. Look a little closer. Something feels not-quite-right. The house is shown at a strange angle, with the lower story cut off by the bottom of the canvas. The trees behind the house aren't completely in focus—Hopper has given us just a suggestion of a dark, kind of menacing forest. And what's the relationship between the two figures on the balcony? They look as if they're barely engaged with one another; a lonely emptiness fills the space between them. Josephine Nivison Hopper, the artist' wife, was the model for both figures, as she was for virtually all his images of women. This isn't a casually observed scene from everyday life after all;Hopper carefully constructed every element to create a particular mood. The Whitney Museum was the first museum to collect his work, and it's now the home of the artist's estate. Hopper's paintings are distinctively American—you'd never mistake this for a scene of the French countryside. What makes Hopper so special is that while he paints subjects many artist shave depicted—landscapes, figures—his work transcends a specific place and time. It captures a sense of the pathos of America.