Hotel Lobby, 1943 by Edward Hopper

Hotel Lobby is an oil painting on canvas by Edward Hopper, which is held in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA).

The painting depicts two women and a man in the lobby of a hotel. On the right is a woman with blond hair and a blue dress, sitting with her legs crossed and reading a book. To the left sits an older woman with a red dress, a coat and a hat. A man stands next to her, facing forward, with a suit on and an overcoat draped over his right arm. On the left wall, above the woman, is a framed landscape painting. A clerk behind the reception desk is barely visible in the shadows.

Hotel Lobby is a signature piece in Hopper's work, displaying his classic themes of alienation and brevity. The Hoppers traveled frequently, staying in many motels and hotels throughout his career. This is one of two works in his catalog that depicts a hotel, the other being Hotel Window (1955). It is also one of the two paintings that he created in 1952, both of which dealt with alienated couples. The older couple are believed to represent Hopper and his wife, themselves in their 60s. The hotel guests have been described as being "both traveling and suspended in time," reflecting a stoic and dramatic feeling, reminiscent of the film noir movies Hopper might have seen and the complex structure and feeling of works by Edgar Degas.