The Art of the Lighthouse Painting
Edward Hopper, The Long Leg (1935)
Something about lighthouses has always attracted me. The isolation, the light, the views, and the beautiful seaside locations. When I lived in New York I would often go out to Long Island and visit the Montauk lighthouse and climb up to the top. The Great Gatsby comes to mind - an idyllic world of sea and homes and the lighthouses are a part of that romantic template. I feel a sense of calm around lighthouses and feel like there are a lot of stories surrounding the history of lighthouses. Who lived there, how old was it, was there any shipwrecks or interesting stories that could be told. Someone once mentioned that you can VRBO a lighthouse in Oregon and spend the night. I will look into that. I was also recently on a trip to Key West and after visiting Hemingway’s House, with the six-toed cats, my friend Catherine and I went to the lighthouse in Key West and climbed to the top. It was called the Key West Lighthouse - the southernmost point of the US!
A month ago, my sister Peggy was visiting Pasadena to see my mom and we decided to get her out and take her on an adventure. We all had been stuck inside for too long with covid and we thought visiting The Huntington Gardens would be perfect. There is a new Chinese garden we hadn’t seen yet and walking around the beautiful gardens and galleries and house would be fun. Well, we got there, and we didn’t have a reservation so we could not go in. However, we could go into the bookstore so that is what we did. An outing is an outing and the bookstore had air conditioning and the temperature in Pasadena was almost 85 at that point. The Huntington Gardens has a large bookstore with the usual… gardening tea towels, books, ornaments, art postcards, children’s section, jewelry, and of course posters and prints. Well, they had small canvases of works in their collection and I forgot that the Huntington has one of my favorite Edward Hopper paintings The Long Leg, 1935.
Upon seeing this painting, I was immediately brought back to the sun and ocean in the Hamptons and my trips to visit Jackson Pollock’s house, the Montauk lighthouse, Sag Harbor, and walks around the cute towns on the east end of Long Island. I do not know what lighthouse is represented in this Hopper painting however, it calmed me, and I wanted to be there. My mom and sister were still looking around, though I was stuck holding and breathing in this image on the canvas. I decided I wanted to get it and put it in my house to remind me of the freedom and peace lighthouses bring to my soul. My mom was kind as I walked to the register, she said she wanted to buy it for me. She wanted to help me with my happy memories and reminders of what touches my soul in life. I so appreciate her kindness and I am looking at it right now from my desk.