A brightly lit diner sits on a street corner at night, its large glass windows revealing four figures inside. Three customers occupy the counter: a man in a dark suit and hat sits with his back to the viewer, while a couple sits to his right, the man in a suit and hat, the woman in a red blouse with brown hair, both facing the counter. The counter is a long, cherry-colored surface, lined with round stools and set with coffee cups, a napkin holder, and a salt and pepper shaker.

Outside, the sidewalk is empty, bathed in a pale greenish light, and the surrounding buildings are dark and deserted, their windows reflecting the glow from the diner. The sign above the diner reads 'PHILLIES,' advertising five-cent cigars, with a picture of a cigar next to the lettering. The composition is tightly constructed, with the diner's sharp angles and sweeping glass window dominating the foreground, while the street and buildings recede into deep shadow.

Hopper uses harmonious geometric forms and a restricted palette of greens, ochres, and reds, with the electric light inside the diner casting a brilliant, almost unnatural glow against the darkness outside. Edward Hopper completed Nighthawks in 1942, drawing inspiration from a restaurant he had seen on Greenwich Avenue in New York, though the painting is not a literal depiction of any specific place. The Art Institute of Chicago acquired the painting the same year it was completed, purchasing it from the Frank Rehn Galleries. According to the museum, Hopper later recalled that he was 'unconsciously, probably, painting the loneliness of a large city,' and the scene is marked by a sense of isolation, with each figure appearing lost in thought and disengaged from the others.

The painting was exhibited in several major American museums and was included in the Art Institute of Chicago’s annual exhibitions in 1942 and 1943, as well as in Hopper’s retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1950. The painting’s enigmatic quality, serene order, and luminous contrasts have made it one of the most recognizable images in American art.