David Hockney, the beloved British artist widely regarded as the most influential British artist of all time, has died at the age of 88. His publicist, Erica Bolton, confirmed that he passed away peacefully at his home in London on Thursday, describing him as "one of the most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries."
Early Life and Education
Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1937, Hockney was the fourth of five children. His father, Kenneth Hockney, was an accountant's clerk and a conscientious objector during World War II, while his mother, Laura, was a devout Methodist and strict vegetarian. He described his upbringing as life in a "radical working-class family."
Hockney was born with synesthesia, a condition that allowed him to see colors in response to music, which later influenced his set designs for ballet and opera. In 1948, he won a scholarship to Bradford Grammar School, where he received prizes for art, before enrolling at Bradford College of Art in 1953. He then moved to the Royal College of Art in London, where he earned a gold medal in the graduate competition in 1962. As a student, his Yorkshire accent was mocked by peers, but he later recalled, "I'd look at their artworks and I'd think, well, if I drew like that, I'd keep my mouth shut."
Career and Artistic Achievements
By the time he graduated, Hockney had already exhibited at the Young Contemporaries show and was openly gay at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in England. He produced a series of paintings featuring naked or semi-naked men, which he described as "homosexual propaganda." He said, "I felt it should be done. Nobody else would use it as a subject because it was a part of me. It was a subject I could treat humorously. In art, new ways of seeing mean new ways of feeling. You can't divorce the two."
Hockney visited the United States in 1961 and returned in 1964 to teach at universities in Iowa, Colorado, and California. He commuted between England and America until settling permanently in Los Angeles in 1978, buying a house in the Hollywood Hills that he later expanded to include his studio. He also owned a beach house in Malibu for many years.
His most famous paintings include A Bigger Splash (1967), Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures). The latter sold at Christie's in New York in November 2018 for $90 million, becoming the most expensive artwork by a living artist at auction at the time. His vast Yorkshire landscapes, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 2012, attracted more than 600,000 visitors.
Innovative Techniques and Later Years
Throughout his career, Hockney was known for embracing unorthodox styles and incorporating technology into his art. He pioneered photo-collages (which he called "joiners"), fax drawings, and iPad paintings. In his 80s, he enthusiastically adopted the iPad as a drawing medium, producing vibrant digital flower paintings that he emailed to friends each morning. He once joked, "People from the village come up and tease me, 'we hear you've started drawing on your telephone.' And I tell them 'well, no, actually, it's just that occasionally I speak on my sketch pad.'"
Hockney lived in Normandy from 2018 to 2023, after falling in love with the region during a road trip. He said, "I'd like to just work and paint. The French know how to live. They know about pleasure." He returned to London in 2023, where he remained until his death. He was working right up to his death, with an exhibition titled A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting running at the Serpentine North Gallery in London, which opened in March.
Personal Life and Legacy
Hockney was profoundly deaf for many years, using hearing aids since 1979. He stayed fit by swimming every morning and could stand for hours while painting. He suffered a stroke in 2012 that temporarily impaired his speech, but he was relieved that it did not affect his drawing. He accepted the Order of Merit in 2012 and was made a Companion of Honour in 1997.
He turned down a knighthood in 1990, saying, "I don't value prizes of any sort. I value my friends." A 2011 poll of 1,000 British painters and sculptors declared him Britain's most influential artist of all time, surpassing Turner, Bacon, and Gainsborough. One critic wrote, "Hockney is so famous, so popular, such a great talker and character that it's easy to take him for granted as an artist. He is one of only a handful of 20th century British artists who added anything to the image bank of the world's imagination."
Hockney's distinctive look—a flat cap and large round glasses—accompanied by a cigarette, became iconic. He once said, "I've had three doctors in the past 40 or so years. They all told me to give up smoking and now they're all dead." He wore a badge saying "end bossiness soon."
He is survived by his many friends and admirers. As he once said, "Inspiration. She does not visit the lazy. I think I'm greedy, but I'm not greedy for money. I'm greedy for an exciting life. I want it to be exciting all the time, and I intend to have it exciting until the day I fall over."
