---
name: "The Hopper painting behind the Psycho house"
subtitle: "Norman Bates's mansion was lifted from a 1925 Edward Hopper canvas"
date: 2026-07-09
link: "https://www.openculture.com/2026/07/how-an-edward-hopper-painting-inspired-norman-bates-iconic-house-in-alfred-hitchcocks-psycho.html"
linkText: "openculture.com"
source: "Open Culture"
topics: [general-delight]
tags: [film-history, painting, hitchcock, art-history]
description: "How Hitchcock's crew modeled the Bates house in Psycho directly on Edward Hopper's 1925 'House by the Railroad' — mansard roof, lonely trackside stance and all."
---

Hitchcock's team built the Bates house in Psycho from Edward Hopper's 1925 painting House by the Railroad — the same looming mansard roof, the same isolated stance beside the tracks — turning one American realist canvas into cinema's most famous silhouette. Open Culture traces the borrowing, and once you've seen the pairing the resemblance is total. The standing set still greets visitors on the Universal Studios backlot tour.
