Edward Hopper was born in Nyack, New York. Between 1900 and 1905, he studied art at the Chase School in New York . At that time, he usually worked with a fairly dark and somber palette. After a stay in Paris in 1906-7, he returned to the United States with a considerably lighter and brighter palette. Hopper belongs to the group of American realists whose subjects are America at its most everyday and ordinary: to his specific motifs-old houses, city and village streets, diners, lighthouses, movie theatres-he adds a characteristic romanticism. His work has a dreamlike quality and hints of the wish for something extraordinary to happen to break the monotony of everyday life. Hopper eschewed the rah-rah patriotic painting style of Rockwell and instead his paintings show isolation and loneliness.
A Taoist should not be a good ‘patriot.‘ He should not fall in line with any group or party. He is not a flag-waver. He does not sing national anthems with tear-filled eyes. He does not "die for his country". He does not kill for a nationalistic cause, to satisfy the demands of his government or because he has fallen for some propaganda. He would rather be seen as a traitor than betray himself. He has conquered himself and therefore cannot be conquered.
