Edward Hoppers Cape Cod Cottages and Houses -Then and Now

Painter Edward Hopper captured the tranquility of seaside cottages, fisherman shacks and a light like no other during summers on Cape Cod.

Edward Hopper Art Prints of Cape Cod Cottages and HousesEdward Hopper (1882-1967) was a solitary man at home by the sea, amid the sand, dune grass and low-lying shrubs. He and his fellow artist wife Josephine Nivison (1883-1968) lived frugally in a New York City walk-up apartment and in their 805 square foot summer studio house on Stevens Way in South Truro, which they built in 1934. "It's just a summer cottage, as primitive as the land it's in," his wife, Josephine, once wrote to a friend. And the lucky owner -Anton Schiffenhaus, whose family inherited the Hopper house when Josephine, a friend of his mother's, passed away in 1968 (10 months after her husband). Even today, the roughly 30-acre swath stretching north remains mostly untouched, with only the tops of a few new homes visible to visitors. You can read the full article here: Cape Cod, in Edward Hopper’s Light.

Edward Hopper Painting Truro Cape Cod
"Corn Hill" 1930



Cape Cod cottagesThe cottages above Corn Hill beach are still there, only now surrounded by more outlandish structures.

Edward Hopper Cape Cod
"Cottages at Wellfleet" 1933

Edward Hopper Cape Cod house
"House with Rain Barrel" ca. 1936

Edward Hopper Truro HouseYou can see that Hopper had a slightly different angle, and lots of trees have grown since. The house sits at the end of Depot Road in Truro and is owned by Patricia Bartlett.

Edward Hopper Cape Cod"Sometimes there would be up to thirty people in the parking lot painting my house", she said in a interview with the NY Times. Read the whole article here: Edward Hopper’s Cape Cod: Then and Now.

Cape Cod Paintings by Edward Hopper
"Dauphinee House" 1932

Truro houseSet back from the shore at Phats Valley Road near Truro's station.

cottages at North Truro painting
"Cottages at North Truro" 1938

Truro Cape Cod by Edward HopperThe scene to the left is still very recognizable. Via.

Hopper Rooms for Tourists
"Rooms for Tourists" 1945

Hopper housed on Cape CodThe perfect place to spend the night, one of Provincetown's oldest guest houses -The Sunset Inn.

Edward Hopper on Cape CodHopper liked to work alone and sometimes painted while sitting in his Buick (purchased in 1927), his watercolor board propped against the steering wheel. He loved his car. It insulated him from people, and he could quickly disappear into the same branching maze of dirt lanes and tarmac back roads that wind through Truro -from Solitude's Shore.