Evening Wind

Evening Wind is an etching that Edward Hopper drew in 1931. The black and white image depicts a young woman whose face is obscured by her hair as it falls forward covering her face.

She is naked and is sat kneeling on an unmade bed. She is facing an open window, of which the curtains either side are blowing inwards. The observer can see no other image through the window.

The scene that is captured in Evening Wind, is based upon a natural and traditional image, but the way in which it is portrayed on paper is shrouded in mystery. Is the woman raising up on the bed to close the window, or is she kneeling to embrace the feeling of the wind on her bare skin?

What is so very apparent from the etching, is that she is incredibly venerable, and this is for many reasons. Firstly, she is naked and this in itself makes her extremely vulnerable.

The second point is that the window is open, allowing her to make contact with the weldments. In essence the outside world is brought into her home and we are left questioning if this is a truly conscious decision. The final point is that the bed is unmade, it is unfinished. This creates a feeling of uneasiness.

Over the years many art critics have also likened the etching to that of a modern Annunciation scene. This may be due to the simplistic nature of the image and the fact that the woman is kneeling naked on the bed in answer to some kind of other worldly calling.

The image does have an incredibly pure quality that oozes from it, in that the naked woman is not portrayed as a sexual being, but as a woman who is in tune with her own body, surroundings and ultimate destiny.