George Bellows and his friend Edward Hopper have been the hare and the tortoise of American realist art.

WSJ: George Bellows at Washington's National Gallery of Art

The modern gallery spaces feature a slew of notable American artists like Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Andrew Wyeth and Winslow Homer (a Mainer).

BBC: Art appreciation and more in Portland, Maine

Almost 3, 000 daily visitors saw the works of conceptual artist Hirst, beating Edward Hopper (429, 909) in 2004 and Paul Gauguin (420, 686) in 2010-11.

BBC: Damien Hirst is most visited Tate Modern solo show

Indeed, just call this weekend, the Edward Hopper marathon.

FORBES: Edward Hopper retrospective open 24/7 at Grand Palais

It's a quality, he points out, that has inspired artists like Edward Hopper, who returned repeatedly to the empty warmth of road cafes and petrol stations in paintings like Gas and Automat.

BBC: View of M1 from Newport Pagnall service station

Johnson, who in the 1970s gave the museum nine pieces from his own collection, said that his favorite picture was Edward Hopper's stunning "Room in New York, " which the museum purchased in 1936, four years after Hopper painted it.

WSJ: Fifty Has Seldom Looked So Good Bared | The Naked Museum | Sheldon Museum of Art | By Willard Spiegelman

The Brooklyn Museum's show is broader in scope, spanning the 18th to the 20th century in the U.S. with works by such notables as William Merritt Chase, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe and Elihu Vedder, along with accomplished artists who are largely unfamiliar, even to specialists.

WSJ: Fine Lines | Frick Collection | Brooklyn Museum | by Karen Wilkin