It's a curious feature of Hopper's work that although it seems concerned to show us places that are transient and un-homely, we may, in contact with it, feel as if we have been carried back to some important place in ourselves, a place of stillness and sadness, of seriousness and authenticity: it can help us to remember ourselves. 霍伯 (Edward Hopper )的畫作有項耐人尋味的特色：明明是在呈現一些人來人往、彼此陌生又疏離隔絕的過客空間，卻又讓觀賞者彷彿被引領返回心中最為珍藏的某處。 那裡的一切凝結靜止、情緒氛圍蒼鬱深沉、恍若明心見性、直指本心。 這些作品讓我們能因此而找回了曾被遺忘的自我。 文：Alain de Botton譯：Platero圖：Edward Hopper, "New York Movie" (1939)

圖文插畫

文謎圖譯

孤獨是一種內心深度的標誌。它標示著一般社交的膚淺言談無法窺見的深沉內斂；而這是值得自己慶幸之事。我們孤獨地走進了悠遠流長的傳統，卻喜出望外，發現眾多志同道合的孤獨者與我為伴。

Platero的沙龍

過客空間

Despite the bleakness Hopper's paintings depict, they are not themselves bleak to look at –- perhaps because they allow us as viewers to witness an echo of our own griefs and disappointments, and thereby to feel less personally persecuted and beset by them. It is sad books that console us most when we are sad, and the pictures of lonely service stations that we should hang on our walls when there is no one to hold or love. 霍伯 (Edward Hopper)畫作裡描繪的淒清荒涼情境，並不會使人在觀賞時感到孤絕悲戚。 或許是因為賞畫人感受到這些作品回應了自己的哀傷與失落，因而不再覺得只有自己一人獨陷如此苦楚之中，飽受挫折之痛。 在憂傷的時刻，只有憂傷的書籍才最能為我們療傷止痛。 在沒有人可擁懷疼愛的時候，就應該在牆上掛一幅寂寥的加油站照片來作伴。 文：Alain de Botton譯：Platero 圖：Edward Hopper, "Automat" (1927)

愛德華霍伯