Des Moines Art Center, acquired with funds from the Edmundson Art Foundation in 1958.

In his work Automat, Edward Hopper depicts a young woman alone in an American cafeteria, an Automat, where people could buy it’s food and drink in a vending machine. 

The title of the painting draws a parallel between the place and the inexpressive and empty attitude of the young woman. The colors of the work, the lighting, the fact that the young woman kept her clothes and her left glove communicate a feeling of cold. 

The woman, lost in her thoughts, is at the center of the canvas and everything converges towards her. Through this painting Hopper illustrates the idea of social alienation in the Metropolitan American cities of the 1920s.

There is another subtle theme at work here and that is that Automats provided a public dining option for women that was groundbreaking. It has been either overlooked or simply forgotten that at this time, a lot restaurants didn’t permit unescorted women to enter their premises because it was understood (or presumed) that unescorted women were likely to be prostitutes and therefore a potential nuisance or disruption. It’s really hard to believe that access to public eating establishments was denied to women and other minorities, but it’s true. The Automat was a key device for bringing that sort of discrimination to an end. There was nobody at the door controlling access. Anyone with a nickel was able to use the facilities.