During the long months of Covid lockdowns, the artist most often used to illustrate articles about people isolated in their homes or devoid of social contact was the American realist painter Edward Hopper.
His images of people gazing out of a window or sitting alone in a diner have frequently been interpreted as depictions of loneliness. But Hopper pushed back, saying solitude was not the same as loneliness. “She’s just looking out of the window,” he said of one painting.
