Lighthouse Village (also known as Cape Elizabeth)

About the Artwork

Edward Hopper made this watercolor during the last of several painting excursions that he took to Maine. He had painted the lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth once two years before, but found the structure so interesting that he returned to it in this drawing. Hopper was especially attracted to the varying green tones of the grass and the combination of buildings, each with a different purpose, including one where the lighthouse keepers slept and the three at the bottom where coast guard families lived. He used a slightly different tone of watercolor for each of the structures to accurately convey the reflection of light on them.

Inscriptions

signed, lower right, in black gouache: Edward Hopper / Cape Elizabeth

Exhibition history

An Exhibition of Paintings, Water Colors, and Etchings by Edward Hopper. Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (organizer) (March 11-April 25, 1937). American Watercolor and Winslow Homer. Walker Art Center (organizer) (February 27-March 23, 1945); The Brooklyn Museum (April 3-May 1, 1945); The Detroit Institute of Arts (May 15-June 2, 1945). Watercolor USA: A Survey of Watercolor from 1870 to 1946. Walker Art Center (organizer) (April 24-May 28, 1946); National Gallery of Art (May 17-August 1, 1946). Amerikanische Meister des Aquarells. Albertina, Wien, Austria (organizer) (October 2-December 6, 1949). Edward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (February 11-March 26, 1950); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (April 13-14, 1950); The Detroit Institute of Arts (June 4-July 2, 1950). Edward Hopper. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 29-November 29, 1964). American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Edward Hopper's Maine: Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, 1914-1929. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME (organizer) (July 15-October 16, 2011). Spectacular Freedom: Andrew Wyeth and the Modern American Watercolor. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 20, 2026-January 18, 2027).

Quick Overview

Artist: Edward Hopper (American, 1882–1967)
Date: 1929
Medium: Watercolor with graphite and scraping on paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 40.5 x 63.3 cm (15 15/16 x 24 15/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
Accession no.: 1930.851

Provenance

October 1929: Edward Hopper, sold to Frank K.M. Rehn, New York, NY 1929: (Frank K. M. Rehn, New York, NY, sold to Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1929-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.