In the manner of Edward Hopper
American, 1882–1967
Charging, 2026
Oil on canvas
102 × 153 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.19.2
A man sits in a pale car beside a charging post as the last orange light goes down behind a strip mall, and the car park stretches empty around him. The lamp is not on yet. He is not going anywhere for forty minutes. Hopper's *Gas* is a petrol station at dusk, the attendant alone with his pumps. The pump has become a plug. The wait has got longer.
The brief
A man sitting in a parked electric car at a charging station at dusk, lit by the dashboard glow, a flat suburban strip mall and an empty parking lot behind, last orange light on the horizon. American realist oil painting of the 1940s, hard clear light casting long precise shadows, simplified architectural geometry with strong horizontals, a muted but saturated palette of ochre, brick red, viridian and pale cream, a single still figure isolated in a public space, psychological quiet, cinematic framing from slightly outside the scene, smooth restrained brushwork. Museum photograph of the oil painting, even gallery lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
