The Painting That Set Edward Hopper's Auction Record

Edward Hopper, Chop Suey (1929), sold for $91.88m at Christie's in New York on November 13, 2018. The oil on canvas work had been traded 6 times in the past.

Hopper's wife, Josephine, posed for the female figures in the painting. The artists first met as students. Initially, she was more successful than her husband, who did not did not make a living from his art until he was in his 40s, around the time he painted Chop Suey. Josephine played a major role in many of his meticulously planned paintings, referring to them as "their children".

Hopper's record breaking canvas of two women in a Chinese restaurant was one of the star lots in the sale of the Barney A. Ebsworth's collection of American Modern art. The Seattle Art Museum had hoped it would be among the US businessman's promised gifts but instead it entered another private collection.

The sale beat Hopper's previous auction record by $51.39m, a 125% rise. The previous record was set by East Wind Over Weehawken (1934), which sold for $40.48m at Christie's on December 05, 2013. The work had not been traded before.

A Brief History of Edward Hopper at Auction