Rooms inspired by paintings: Nighthawks

Part 5 of building an interior design scheme around a painting! 

Today's scheme is based on Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.

Nighthawks was painted in 1942 by American realist painter and printmaker Edward Hopper. The painting has become one of the most recognisable paintings in American art.

In The Artist's Voice; Talks with Seventeen Artists by Katherine Kuh, Hopper states that Nighthawks was "suggested by a restaurant on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet." He goes on to add "I simplified the scene a great deal and made the restaurant bigger." Because of this, many fans have tried to locate the original diner. 

American writer and social critic Jeremiah Moss wrote a series of blog posts exploring the possible location of the Nighthawks diner. Many believe it to have been on the corner of Mulry Square at the intersection of 7th Avenue South, Greenwich Avenue, and West 11th Street. However, Moss writes that in the 1930s and 1940s, a Kesbec Esso gas station stood on that spot.

The Kesbec Esso gas station at the corner of 7th Avenue South and Greenwich Avenue in 1933. Via NYPL.

Moss goes on to explore the possibility that the Nighthawks diner was on a different corner of Mulry Square, as there were around 8 potential locations due to the "crossroads of triangles and tightly wedged corners". Moss scoured the New York Public Library's digital archives to find maps and photographs of the diner's potential location, but in the end Moss concluded that "outside of Hopper's imagination, there was no Nighthawks diner at all" and that "the ultimate truth remains bitterly out of reach".

Within months of the painting's completion, it was sold to The Art Institute of Chicago for $3,000 (equivalent to $59,253 in 2026). Purchase details of each of Hopper's paintings were documented in Artist Ledger notebooks by him and his wife, Jo.

It was Jo who suggested the name Nighthawks in a letter to Edward's sister Marion. She wrote, "Ed has just finished a very fine picture - a lunch counter at night with 3 figures. Night Hawks would be a fine name for it. E. posed for the two men in a mirror and I for the girl. He was about a month and a half working on it".

A close up of the lone patron. Via Steven Zucker.

It is thought that Hopper was depicting the lonely reality of America in the 1940s and the alienation of living in a large city at the time, although in his interview with Kuh, he claims "I didn't see it as particularly lonely". Nighthawks was painted at the beginning of America's involvement in World War II; Pearl Harbour was bombed in December 1941 and New Yorkers were being subjected to blackout drills in preparation for an attack by the Nazis. The city was plunged into darkness, fear, and uncertainty.

Kelly Oehler, Field-McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art at The Art Institute of Chicago, puts forward the idea that Hopper's compositional decisions spoke to some inner need for social connection in a time of fear and isolation. After all, Hopper purposefully included four figures in this painting rather than just the one. She suggests that Hopper "saw this brightly lit diner not as a place of disconnection but as a beacon of light and hope against the darkness, a moment of finding community when everything outside seemed grim and unbearable".

While Oehler explores themes of community and hope, writer and researcher Daniel Speight writes on the Animato blog that the four individuals in Nighthawks who, despite their proximity, appear deeply disconnected. He notes the lack of eye contact between the man and woman seated together, the lone patron with his back to the viewer, and the counter attendant gazing outwards, seemingly lost in contemplation. Speight claims that "this arrangement underscores the paradox of city life: being surrounded by others yet feeling profoundly alone".

A close up showing the bright yellow light inside the diner. Via Wikipedia.

And while Oehler suggests the bright light of the diner acts as a beacon of hope, Speight claims it "amplifies the theme of isolation, suggesting that even in places designed for social interaction, genuine human connection can be elusive".

Because Nighthawks is so widely recognised it has served as the model for many homages and parodies, including the 1981 film Pennies from Heaven, Banksy's Are You Using That Chair? (2005), Red Grooms' Nighthawks Revisited (1980), the 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner by Tom Waits, and two episodes of The Simpsons.

So, here is the room I put together based on the colour scheme of Nighthawks...

Osborne & Little Kanoko Grasscloth Wallpaper from Jane Clayton, £296.00/roll ・ Olsen Dining Chair in Dark Brown Acacia by Swoon, £399.00 ・ Large Framed To Catch a Thief Poster by King & McGaw, £230.00 ・ Upward by Wassily Kandinsky Framed Print by PSTR Studio, €100.00 ・ 160cm x 230cm Sora Block Rug in Orange by Dunelm, £219.00 ・ Q Mantel Clock in Petrol Blue by Newgate, £49.99 ・ Checkered Trinket Box in Brown by Habitat, £7.00 ・ Erika Norén for Globen Lighting Iris Table Lamp in Butter Yellow from Nordic Nest, £152.87 ・ Diptyque Baies Medium Scented Candle from Space NK, £79.00 ・ Large Wave Handle in Aged Brass by Matilda Goad, £52.00.

I struggled to find the right furniture pieces for this room. Many of the desks and bookcases I looked at weren't the right colour, size, or style, so I created my own bespoke built-in desk/shelving unit. I'm really happy with how it looks. I leant into a mid-century modern feel for this space, so I kept the built-in sleek and simple and paired it with a curved, low-back chair.

The colours in the To Catch a Thief print look as if they were pulled straight from Nighthawks. I couldn't have found a better fit. The Wassily Kandinsky print is equally brilliant, especially with that gorgeous yellow passe-partout.

There are subtle pops of midnight blue in the artwork, clock, and candle, and I included a silver metal pen pot as a nod to the huge silver percolators on the counter.

Information: Wikipedia, Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, RHODES, The Art Institute of Chicago, Animato. Prices and availability correct as of 15/02/26.