Voyage 1 in Hopper landscapes: Gas, 1940

At dusk: This painting, with a mysterious atmosphere, is among the most famous of the painter. Lost in the middle of a deserted road, a petrol station diffuses its pallid gleam at dusk. In the middle of the image, three bright red gas pumps dominate the scene with their disturbing presence. What exactly is this gas pump attendant doing? Alone in front of the machines and the emptiness of the road swallowed by a dark forest, the man appears very vulnerable and lonely. Magisterial, the canvas brings out the strange of a banal situation, while placing a melancholy look on the dark side of American modernity ... Beaux-Arts

Hopper - Gas, 1940, photo MoMA NY