Edward Hopper’s painting of streetscape sells for over $40M, auction record for artist

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Edward Hopper’s “East Wind Over Weehawken” has sold for $40.5 million — an auction record for the artist.

The 1934 work depicts a streetscape of the New Jersey city across the Hudson River from New York.

It had been in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

An anonymous telephone bidder purchased the work at Christie’s on Thursday.

The pre-sale estimate was $22 million to $28 million.

The painting captures the melancholy of post-Depression life in America.

Hopper considered it one of his best works.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward the creation of a new endowment at the academy for the purchase of artworks.

The previous Hopper record was $26.9 million for “Hotel Window.”