David Hockney spent almost 70 years reinventing how a flat image could hold light, space and feeling. He moved from the swimming pools of 1960s Los Angeles to the folded perspectives of his late iPad drawings, all conveying his iconic painterly style.
Trained at Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art, he became one of the defining figures of British Pop art. His move to California in 1964 gave him some of the most recognisable images in postwar painting, including A Bigger Splash.
Printmaking ran through his entire career, from his student etchings at the RCA to a body of more than 500 prints made with workshops across Europe and America. Hockney died at his home in 2026, aged 88.
Trained at Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art, he became one of the defining figures of British Pop art. His move to California in 1964 gave him some of the most recognisable images in postwar painting, including A Bigger Splash.
Printmaking ran through his entire career, from his student etchings at the RCA to a body of more than 500 prints made with workshops across Europe and America. Hockney died at his home in 2026, aged 88.
Summary
David Hockney spent almost 70 years reinventing how a flat image could hold light, space and feeling. He moved from the swimming pools of 1960s Los Angeles to the folded perspectives of his late iPad drawings, all conveying his iconic painterly style.
Trained at Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art, he became one of the defining figures of British Pop art. His move to California in 1964 gave him some of the most recognisable images in postwar painting, including A Bigger Splash.
Printmaking ran through his entire career, from his student etchings at the RCA to a body of more than 500 prints made with workshops across Europe and America. Hockney died at his home in 2026, aged 88.
Trained at Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art, he became one of the defining figures of British Pop art. His move to California in 1964 gave him some of the most recognisable images in postwar painting, including A Bigger Splash.
Printmaking ran through his entire career, from his student etchings at the RCA to a body of more than 500 prints made with workshops across Europe and America. Hockney died at his home in 2026, aged 88.
Artworks by David Hockney
About David Hockney
Biography
About David Hockney
David Hockney was born in 1937 in West Yorkshire as the fourth of five children. He studied at Bradford School of Art, then won a place at the Royal College of Art in London in 1959, graduating with a gold medal in 1962.
He was unusually direct about his own homosexuality in his work, at a time when sex between men remained illegal in England. He treated it as ordinary subject matter years before decriminalisation in 1967.
Los Angeles and a bigger splash
Hockney moved to Los Angeles in 1964, having never previously visited. He was captivated by its light, architecture and swimming pools, a subject which produced some of his most celebrated paintings, including A Bigger Splash and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures). The latter sold at auction in 2018 for $90 million, at the time the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist.
He continued to work across portraiture, landscape and stage design over the following years, returning repeatedly to Yorkshire and later, Normandy, to paint the changing seasons. In his final years, he embraced the iPad as a drawing tool, producing large scale digital landscapes shown alongside his paintings.
Printmaking throughout a career
Printmaking occupied a central place in Hockney's work. His student series, A Rake's Progress, reimagined William Hogarth's 18th-century cycle through his first visit to New York in 1961. It established him as a narrative printmaker while he was still at the Royal College of Art.
He went on to work with major workshops, including Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles. In Paris, he worked with Petersburg Press and Maurice Payne, producing illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. He was also taught colour-etching techniques by Aldo Crommelynck (formerly Picasso's own master printer) which would be later used for The Blue Guitar.
Across his career, Hockney is estimated to have made more than 500 prints. He died at his home in London in 2026, one month short of his 89th birthday. He had continued to draw and paint until close to the end of his life.
Biography
About David Hockney
David Hockney was born in 1937 in West Yorkshire as the fourth of five children. He studied at Bradford School of Art, then won a place at the Royal College of Art in London in 1959, graduating with a gold medal in 1962.
He was unusually direct about his own homosexuality in his work, at a time when sex between men remained illegal in England. He treated it as ordinary subject matter years before decriminalisation in 1967.
Los Angeles and a bigger splash
Hockney moved to Los Angeles in 1964, having never previously visited. He was captivated by its light, architecture and swimming pools, a subject which produced some of his most celebrated paintings, including A Bigger Splash and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures). The latter sold at auction in 2018 for $90 million, at the time the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist.
He continued to work across portraiture, landscape and stage design over the following years, returning repeatedly to Yorkshire and later, Normandy, to paint the changing seasons. In his final years, he embraced the iPad as a drawing tool, producing large scale digital landscapes shown alongside his paintings.
Printmaking throughout a career
Printmaking occupied a central place in Hockney's work. His student series, A Rake's Progress, reimagined William Hogarth's 18th-century cycle through his first visit to New York in 1961. It established him as a narrative printmaker while he was still at the Royal College of Art.
He went on to work with major workshops, including Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles. In Paris, he worked with Petersburg Press and Maurice Payne, producing illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. He was also taught colour-etching techniques by Aldo Crommelynck (formerly Picasso's own master printer) which would be later used for The Blue Guitar.
Across his career, Hockney is estimated to have made more than 500 prints. He died at his home in London in 2026, one month short of his 89th birthday. He had continued to draw and paint until close to the end of his life.