The art of suffering

Cover image: Edward Hopper Study for French Six-Day Rider 1937 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Josephine N. Hopper Bequest

“No pain no gain”, sing Scorpions. Without effort there is no reward. One of the phrases that is frequently used when talking about the hardship of cycling and sport in general, of training, of personal improvement. Resistance to pain, resilience, concentration on oneself, in short, leads to personal improvement.

Riding a bike is, in itself, an act of creativity. Even if you travel along the same streets, the same paths, the same trails, the bike allows you to imagine new worlds, invent new routes, create.

From a romantic stroll through the countryside to the competitiveness of cycle races, the bicycle has been and will be a source of inspiration for artists and creators. From the simplicity and accessibility of the machine to the epicness and suffering of racing, painting, sculpture, photography, illustration and fashion have all explored the beauty of cycling.

Art and bicycles have maintained a constant dialogue throughout history. The relationship between art and cycling is not a recent phenomenon: art has been part of cycling culture for over a century. Artists have reflected in their works their fascination with the elegance of bicycle geometry, or with their mechanical complexity, or with the serene view of the landscape, or with their social significance.

Salvador Dalí (Symphony Bicyclette, 1970), Marcel Duchamp (Roue de bicyclette, 1913), Edgar Degas (Jeune femme à bicyclette à la champagne, 1895) or Picasso (Cabeza de toro, 1943) have taken the bicycle to the highest artistic level as a source of inspiration.

Also Edward Hopper, probably the most representative artist of 20th century North American painting, had a great fascination for bicycles, cyclists and cycling.

Edward Hopper
Nighthawks, 1942

Born in Nyack, New York, in 1882, the first bicycles Hopper saw were undoubtedly those that were current at the time: the so-called penny farthing, with the front wheel much larger than the rear and the pedals on the axle of the front wheel. But in 1884 the first bicycle with a frame and wheels of the same size was patented, and in 1885 John Kemp Starley manufactured what he would call safety bikeThe name comes from the fact that, apart from the fact that the wheels were fitted with pneumatic tyres, the transmission was chain-driven and there was a pedal axle in the frame. The cyclist's feet were thus within reach of the ground and it was much easier to stop. Cycling was no longer a risky pastime and was becoming a very popular means of transport.

Edward Hopper
Cyclist, 1895-1899

Coincidentally, the Nuttall Manufacturing Company, a nickel-plating factory, opened in Hopper’s small hometown of Nyack in 1897, and one of its first jobs was to nickel-plate 30,000 bicycle handlebars. Nuttall employed 40 people, and soon the first bicycles made in town appeared, known as the Nyack-type bicycles. These were described as “easy to operate, strong, and attractively finished.” In a 1901 catalog, they cost $25 ($5 extra for brakes), and came in blue frames with a red stripe and in various sizes, including 20-, 24-, and 26-inch frames.

Edward Hopper was a very tall and thin fifteen-year-old boy who was nicknamed "The Little Prince" at school. Grasshopper (lobster), and in his early sketches he often depicted himself. Bicycles appear in many of these sketches: Meditation: Ten Miles from Home (1899) Some photos show a tall, thin young man contemplating a flat tire. Others show the interior of a bicycle shop. Study of Man in Bike Shop (1895), cyclists, or in test drawings we find bicycle frames or forks.

But to understand Hopper's vision of the world of cycling, we must go to French-six-day bicycle rider, his 1937 painting depicting French cyclist Alfred Letourneur in a track race in New York.

Edward Hopper
French Six-Day Rider, 1937

Hopper, the precursor of American realism, the painter of light and intimate gaze, interprets with his poetic feeling all the explosiveness of track cycling events. The exhausted rider sits motionless and with a lost look before returning to the track.

The Six Days of New York The American race was a cycling event held at the Madison Square Garden velodrome over six days. Between 1899 and 1961, 73 editions were held. It was from these championships that the American race, known as the Madison, arose. Initially, the races were pure endurance events, with a single cyclist completing as many laps as possible over the six days. They did not race for 24 hours, but rather slept at night and could return in the morning whenever they wanted. Thus, the fastest started later than the slowest, who sacrificed hours of sleep to compensate for their lack of rhythm. Over the years, the riders began to compete for 24 hours, limited only by their ability to stay awake. For this reason, they began to use assistants, known by the French name soigneurs, and the use of doping substances was also introduced to help them not sleep and avoid physical and mental exhaustion. This led to frequent falls, caused by sleep and by suffering from delusions and hallucinations.

Extremely tough situations that, while on the one hand endangering the cyclist's physical integrity, on the other hand were a draw for the public, who came to the show to see the cyclist suffer. Consequently, the more reputation for resistance he gained, the more popularity and also money he gained.

This is how the Madison specialty was born, where currently the runners compete in pairs and take turns: while one competes, the other rides alone at a slow pace.

In the first tests, such as the one painted by Hopper in 1937, while one of the team members was competing, the other took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in a small house at the foot of the track.

Fans filled the velodrome during the day and, especially, at night. The nightlife at Madison Square Garden was easily imagined: smoke, jazz bands, showgirls, alcohol and gambling.

The cyclist portrayed by Edward Hopper, the Frenchman Alfred Letourneur, known as “le diable rouge”, was a specialist in Six-Day races, often partnering Belgian Gérard Debaets. He won them in 1931, 1933, 1934 and 1935. Hopper made several pencil sketches of the French rider, with written notes describing the scene: «Thermos bottle on the roof of the cabin. Dark blue and Belgian canvas. Rembrandt colours.»

Edward Hopper
Study for French Six-Day Rider, 1937

On March 5, 1937, when he finished the painting, he wrote in a letter to his buyer: «I couldn't remember the name of the rider, only that he was young and dark and rather French-looking. I haven't tried to make a precise portrait, but he resembles him in a general way. I think he was a member of one of the last French teams to win a race at Madison Square Garden.».

The painting has a series of strong diagonals that counterbalance the static intensity of the figures. The young male attendant, whose slender form contrasts with that of the muscular cyclist, has just opened the sleeping curtain. Two bicycles to the left and right balance the painting. Hopper includes details such as the cyclist's helmet hanging from a peg and his water bottle resting on the roof of the cabin. A bottle, perhaps champagne, sits in a tin bucket at lower left.

Hopper, although he cannot remember his name, makes it clear that he is a French cyclist.

The first sketches of the painting show slightly different perspectives in the final painting. But what interests Hopper is not the setting but the cyclist. In the painting, he simplifies the scene and focuses on the human figure, highlighting the emotional isolation of the rider.

Edward Hopper
Study for French Six-Day Rider, 1937

Hopper's painting shows the art of suffering, which brings home to us the harsh reality of the sport of cycling and its beauty at the same time. Cyclists have a great capacity to withstand pain, apparently better than the average person, and that can come from training. When performance improves, so does the ability to control pain. The brain becomes the one who decides when to stop, before the body does. 

But going too far into pain can often mean there is no turning back and means ending an effort earlier than planned. Getting used to going mentally and physically prepared to break through the pain barrier is something all athletes must do if they want to be the best. 

The ability to tolerate pain is manageable, not only by training the body and mind, but also by drugs. Because it is impossible to talk about pain tolerance without referring to doping. It is common for many cyclists (and athletes in general) to abuse painkillers to use them in important races, regardless of whether they are injured.

And painkillers meet all the requirements of a doping substance: pain is a protective mechanism of the body and painkillers switch off this protective system, just as they change the feeling of fatigue, which is also a protective mechanism of the body. Some painkillers, such as tramadol, are already on the list of doping substances because they reduce cognitive ability and cause drowsiness.

There's time to rest the day you'll drop.
You roll the dice, you play the game.
The weak will fall, the strong remain.
No pain, no gain.

There will be time to rest the day you fall.
Now roll the dice and play.
The weak will fall, the strong will remain.
No pain, no gain.