Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was born in Nyack, New York, in 1882 to a middle-class family. After he graduated high school in 1899, his parents, though supportive of his artistic ambitions, encouraged him to pursue commercial illustration.
He studied at the Correspondence School of Illustrating in New York City for a year before enrolling in classes at the New York School of Art in 1900, where he switched his focus to fine art.
There, Hopper studied under William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916) and Robert Henri (American, 1865-1929), who encouraged their students to paint the everyday realities of the world around them.