Route 6, Eastham

Suffering through a dry spell of sales in 1941, it took a disappointing painting trip west to bring Hopper a fresh perspective and sense of possibility again with his familiar stomping grounds in Cape Code. Having eyed the house on Route 6 for years, Hopper finally began to paint it in October. his wife Jo disparaged Hopper's continual return to Eastham for subject matter, for she thought it to be the least attractive and most generic township in the area.

During the month that it took to pain Rout 6, Eastham, Hopper also found inspiration from New England Indian Summer: 1865-1915 by Van Wyck Brooks, a book about New England authors and artists, including the reclusive Emily Dickinson with who Hopper found an artistic kinship in her focus on seemingly mundane subjects.