'The Automat' by Edward Hopper
Automat (1927) is a painting by Edward Hopper which portrays a lone woman staring into a cup of coffee in an automat late at night. Art critics often cite the work as an example of urban alienation.
A young woman sits alone, the chair across from her drawn in close to the table. Her hat is pulled low over her forehead; her eyes are fixed on her coffee cup. Dressed in the armor of fashion, she wears her good clothes: a winter coat with fur at the collar and cuffs and a spring cloche with a brave bunch of cherries at the brim. But hat and coat do not quite go together, and, like the young woman herself, seem a bit tired and not quite up to date. The woman looks self-conscious and slightly afraid, unused to being alone in a public place. Something appears to have gone wrong. Not only her attire but also the organisation of space subtly suggest the uncertainty of her social position. Seated at the table nearest the door, she is at a carefully calibrated remove from the social flow. The restaurant seems vast and strangely empty; the window behind the young woman reflects nothing in the restaurant except the round ceiling lights--and they recede into an indefinite distance, while illuminating nothing of the world outside. The window becomes a dark void, sucking the light in. It reflects nothingness.
From there I developed my narrative into :
A small woman who sits introspectively, she confines herself in her sanctuary, perched at the edge of the cliff.
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