Edward Hopper's Painting Inspired Norman Bates' House in Hitchcock's Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock's iconic house in Psycho (1960) was inspired by Edward Hopper's 1925 painting House by the Railroad. Hitchcock told François Truffaut that the house's atmosphere was partly accidental, but it is reported to have been influenced by Hopper's work. Hopper's painting itself was based on a real Victorian mansion in Haverstraw, New York, built in 1885 and later abandoned. Hitchcock had previously drawn on Hopper's paintings for Rear Window, as both artists explored loneliness and the violent potential of modern life.
Key facts
- Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho house was inspired by Edward Hopper's 1925 painting House by the Railroad.
- Hitchcock told François Truffaut the house's atmosphere was partly accidental.
- Hopper's painting was based on a real Victorian mansion in Haverstraw, New York, built in 1885.
- The Haverstraw house was abandoned by the turn of the century and called haunted by local children.
- Hitchcock had previously used Hopper's paintings as inspiration for Rear Window.
- Both artists explored loneliness and the capacity for irrational violence in modern life.
- The Haverstraw house was later purchased by the district attorney of Rockland County.
- Hopper painted the house seventeen years before his famous work Nighthawks.
Entities
Artists
- Edward Hopper
- Alfred Hitchcock
- François Truffaut
- Norman Bates
- Paul Bochner
- Tim Brinkhof
- Colin Marshall
Institutions
- Open Culture
- Artnet
- The Atlantic
- Universal Studios
- Museum of Modern Art
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Wikimedia Commons
Locations
- Haverstraw
- New York
- United States
- Hollywood
- California
- Rockland County
- Hudson River
- Seoul
- South Korea