- Nighthawks (Edward Hopper)
- Nuit Brumeuse (James Whistler)
- La Nuit Étoilée (Vincent Van Gogh)
The composer has always loved these masterpieces depicting nocturnal scenes by three of his favorite artists and has attempted to capture the atmosphere of each of them in his music to create this set of three nocturnes for piano.
Nighthawks (1942) is perhaps Edward Hopper’s (1882-1967) most famous painting, depicting a late night American urban diner from the street outside. American painter James Whistler (1834-1903) made many impressionistic paintings while living in London, including this 1870s twilight scene of Battersea from Chelsea along the River Thames known as
Nocturne in Blue and Silver. To distinguish it from other paintings with the same title, the composer has designated it
Nuit Brumeuse or “foggy night.” Van Gogh (1853-1890) painted two pictures with the title
La Nuit Étoilée. The one that inspired the third nocturne is the 1888 painting of the starry night over the Rhone River.
Links for the paintings:
Hopper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hopper#/media/File:Nighthawks_by_Edward_Hopper_1942.jpg
Whistler:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Nocturnes_by_James_McNeill_Whistler#/media/File:James_McNeill_Whistler_-_Nocturne_in_Blue_and_Silver_-_Google_Art_Project.jpgVan Gogh:
https://www.wikiart.org/en/vincent-van-gogh/the-starry-night-1888-2
