This is another work by Edward Hopper who is sometimes referred to as the king of realism. Although Cape Cod Morning was painted 71 years ago it seems to apply to our 2021 reality in imaginative ways.
This composition of clear light and color pulls us to the woman in orange and invites us into her moment. The surrounding elements of nature and architecture frame her expectation as she is bathed in the brightest light of the scene. This work invites us to imagine her story and even our own.
Cape Cod Morning causes me to imagine a story of hope. I choose to see her eyes landing on something she has waited to see – a family member or a friend, a grandchild or a neighbor coming up the walk. What do you imagine?
The open question painted here could be answered with what each of us now longs to see coming to our home. It is open enough to hold all we have been missing during the pandemic and all we hope will soon return. It is open enough to hold all our hopes for others and our common hope for all that is now missing in our society and our discourse. Can you imagine here a friend or relative you have disagreed with about politics coming to share a meal? This window caught in the periwinkle blue of a shadow frames a woman who seems to look only toward the sun. Can we do this also?
I heard recently that hope is something we do and in these times hope can be first what we pray. We hope in prayer that the pandemic will be controlled by protocols and vaccines. We hope in prayer that one on one conversations between relatives, friends and even strangers can draw us back to the center where the ties that bind us cannot be denied. We hope in prayer to keep our hearts dreaming and our minds straining forward to all the things we have missed with new appreciation for them and their eventual, adapted return.
I invite us to imagine within this beautiful painting and see joy and healing in the morning! Amen.
In faith and hope,
Sandy Prouty
Minister of Children and Families
Montview Church
Cape Cod Morning, 1950 | Edward Hopper