By James Bregman BBC News Online entertainment staff

Nighthawks is arguably Hopper's best-known painting

Born in 1882 to a shopkeeper in Nyack, New York State, Edward Hopper is considered among the 20th Century's most important artists, hinting at America's dark underbelly.

Moving to New York at the age of 17, he trained first at the city's School of Illustrating, and later at the New York School of Art.

His tutors at the School of Art included Robert Henri, a member of the Ashcan school whose gritty depictions of everyday life in the city proved influential on the fledgling Hopper.

As a young man, Hopper travelled to France in 1906, the first of many forays to the continent. His European experience was reflected in one his largest canvasses, Soir Bleu, a depiction of a carnival in Paris - but it met with a poor critical response.

Stuggling artist

His fascination with solitary figures and quirky old architecture seemed outdated, and when, at the age of 37, his first solo exhibition opened at New York's Whitney Studio Club, Hopper was still struggling to sell his work.

Hopper reluctantly contemplated having to carve out a living as an illustrator, but things changed in 1924, the year he married Josephine Nivison, a friend from college days.

A successful second show was followed by The House by the Railroad, a stark painting of a rambling old wooden house, later immortalised on screen as the Bates' mansion in Alfred Hitchcock's film, Psycho.

Soon afterwards, more than a decade after selling his first painting, Hopper's career took off.

Loneliness

Hopper defies the American Dream, depicting architecture and landscapes that are wholly American but far from idyllic. Loneliness and emptiness pervade his work.

The characteristically action-free Two in the Aisle (1935)

His buildings and people are imbued with unmistakable solitude, although the artist himself downplayed its significance, commenting that "the loneliness thing is overdone".

His trademark shadows add unease even to pictures of sunny New England countryside. Small-town shop parades are loaded with dark corners, peaceful gas stations overlooked by jet-black forests.

The slightly sinister edge found in his work is heightened by voyeuristic undertones. There is a fascination with peering candidly at people through windows - intruding on private moments.

Hopper's subjects are frequently engaged in mundane actions, but are made more compelling by the sense that something is about to happen. Background figures lurk at the edges of the picture frame.

Film reference

In 1942, Hopper produced arguably his best-known work. Nighthawks features a couple drinking in a spartan all-night cafe, brightly framed in an otherwise darkened street.

Hopper's trademark solitude was prominent, as the artist conceded. "Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city." The famous scene was recreated in films like Pennies from Heaven and The End of Violence.

At the time of his death in 1967, Hopper was still married but it had been a perilously intense relationship. Jo wrote in her diaries that 'Ed is the very centre of my universe... If I'm on the point of being very happy, he sees to it that I'm not.'

The artist's popularity grew after his death, highlighting his standing as a seminal realist painter. His hugely accessible work still strikes a chord and, through the medium of cinema, many more have unwittingingly appreciated his genius.