Expert Voices: Edward Hopper’s Cobbs Barn, South Truro and Three Water Colors

In October of 1927, Edward Hopper and his wife Josephine visited Charlestown, New Hampshire, a small New England town situated on the Connecticut River along the border of New Hampshire and Vermont. During this extended stay, the Hoppers resided at the mansion of the former New Hampshire governor, owned at the t.mes by Catherine Budd. “I made several watercolors when I was there,” Hopper explained in a letter to William H. Bender, Jr. “The horse and barn were on or near the Connecticut River on the west side in Vermont,” he continues (as quoted in Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. II, New York 1995, p. 166). Red Barn in Autumn Landscape is among the limited number of watercolors that Hopper completed during the fall of 1927 in Vermont, and embodies the rustic quality of the New England scenery that drew Hopper to this region in the first place.

Situated at center, the red barn is the focal point of this composition; its vibrant hue is striking against the pale blue sky, and its angular roof cuts through the otherwise softened tree line. The emphasis of a single barn as the subject of this watercolor is a distinctly Hopper stylistic choice, who frequently favored isolated structures and humans alike in his works, often a commentary on themes of solitude. The foliage at center right is also critical to the success of this picture, as it denotes the natural beauty of the autumn landscape. Hopper routinely sketched his surroundings in coastal towns on the Cape or along the Maine shore, but Red Barn in Autumn Landscape is quite unique in that it captures a specific fall moment as the leaves gradually fade from green to burnt orange and red. The present work is emblematic of the simplicity and charm that characterize Hopper’s New England watercolors.

According to the artist’s catalogue raisonné, there appear to be six recorded watercolors from Hopper’s stay in Vermont during October of 1927. Only one work from this group currently resides in private hands. As such, Red Barn in Autumn Landscape offers unique insight into this moment in the artist’s career and highlights his strength as a watercolorist. Edward Hopper passed away in 1967, his wife Josephine following shortly after in 1968. Upon her death, all of the artist’s works in her possession entered the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collects ion as part of a monumental 1970 bequest. Red Barn in Autumn Landscape was gifted to the museum as part of that bequest, and it has remained in their collects ion for more than fifty years. The sale of this work, which coincides with the artist's successful retrospective at the Whitney, will ultimately benefit future museum acquisitions.