David HOCKNEY (born in 1937)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : UK II Groups Cities Landscape
Chronology : 1965 1966 1967 1969 1970-1979 1971 1972 1980 1990 2009
See also : UK II Groups Cities Landscape
Chronology : 1965 1966 1967 1969 1970-1979 1971 1972 1980 1990 2009
1965 California
2024 SOLD for £ 18.7M by Christie's
David Hockney finishes his art studies in London in 1962. He admires the false childishness of Dubuffet's graphics.
Eager for exotic sensations, he got a mission from Sunday Times magazine for a trip to Egypt in 1963. Excited by local solutions to the problem of water, he painted on his return a Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes where the foreground is invaded by a water pipe. This 183 x 183 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 3.5M by Christie's on February 13, 2013.
Made in the same year, Two Men in a Shower is an early representation of a couple of naked men.
In his early art David Hockney acted deliberately as a rebel. His exceedingly naive figures are a response to the abstract minimalism of his friends Kenneth Noland and Frank Stella. The use of cylinders, spheres and cones pushes to the absurd the statements by Cézanne on the geometrical construction of still lifes.
Until 1967 the homosexual act will remain a crime in the United Kingdom. To become a leading gay artist, Hockney prefers to leave. In 1964 he arrives in New York where he gets imbued with pop art.
His plane flies over San Bernardino. His first vision of California is the pattern of pools hidden behind the bungalows, which allow the residents to discreetly practice all forms of hedonism under the bright sun. He is enchanted by the atmosphere of freedom, the apparent ease of life, and the tanned bodies of half naked young men at the pool and on the beach.
In his early style, a view of Different kinds of water pouring into a swimming pool located in Santa Monica, acrylic on canvas 183 x 162 cm painted in 1965, was sold for £ 2.7M by Sotheby's on March 5, 2019, lot 50. As in the Pyramids the pipe has the main role in this naive composition without people. Its water flows down to the floor of the pool. In the distance a row of trees benefits from the irrigation.
Back in England in 1965, Hockney begins with the theme of the Californian swimming pools as a bliss offered to couples of men, with now the realism required for the contemplation of bodies.
California, acrylic on canvas 168 x 200 cm, features two naked men, each of them floating on his stomachs on an air mattress. The pool has a blue background with the moving surface represented without depth effect by wavy lines in the style of the Hourloupe series started by Dubuffet in 1962.
California was sold for £ 18.7M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 24.
Eager for exotic sensations, he got a mission from Sunday Times magazine for a trip to Egypt in 1963. Excited by local solutions to the problem of water, he painted on his return a Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes where the foreground is invaded by a water pipe. This 183 x 183 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 3.5M by Christie's on February 13, 2013.
Made in the same year, Two Men in a Shower is an early representation of a couple of naked men.
In his early art David Hockney acted deliberately as a rebel. His exceedingly naive figures are a response to the abstract minimalism of his friends Kenneth Noland and Frank Stella. The use of cylinders, spheres and cones pushes to the absurd the statements by Cézanne on the geometrical construction of still lifes.
Until 1967 the homosexual act will remain a crime in the United Kingdom. To become a leading gay artist, Hockney prefers to leave. In 1964 he arrives in New York where he gets imbued with pop art.
His plane flies over San Bernardino. His first vision of California is the pattern of pools hidden behind the bungalows, which allow the residents to discreetly practice all forms of hedonism under the bright sun. He is enchanted by the atmosphere of freedom, the apparent ease of life, and the tanned bodies of half naked young men at the pool and on the beach.
In his early style, a view of Different kinds of water pouring into a swimming pool located in Santa Monica, acrylic on canvas 183 x 162 cm painted in 1965, was sold for £ 2.7M by Sotheby's on March 5, 2019, lot 50. As in the Pyramids the pipe has the main role in this naive composition without people. Its water flows down to the floor of the pool. In the distance a row of trees benefits from the irrigation.
Back in England in 1965, Hockney begins with the theme of the Californian swimming pools as a bliss offered to couples of men, with now the realism required for the contemplation of bodies.
California, acrylic on canvas 168 x 200 cm, features two naked men, each of them floating on his stomachs on an air mattress. The pool has a blue background with the moving surface represented without depth effect by wavy lines in the style of the Hourloupe series started by Dubuffet in 1962.
California was sold for £ 18.7M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 24.
1966 The Splash
2020 SOLD for £ 24M by Sotheby's
Back in California in 1966, David is very excited by an instantaneous color photo on the cover of a swimming pool construction manual. The foreground is a diving board. The water is agitated by the splash that has just been caused by an invisible diver.
The artist copies the photo into a first painted version, A Little Splash, 40 x 50 cm. The painting liberates the theme from its documentary aspect. This scene where no character is left visible symbolizes with much more power the joy of living. The four edges of the canvas are not painted, in order to imitate the framing of a photo.
The effect is spectacular. David painstakingly executes two large acrylics, The Splash, 183 x 183 cm, before the end of the year, and A Bigger Splash, 242 x 244 cm, in the following year. The artist later had fun reminding that he spent two weeks expressing a splash that could not last more than two seconds.
The Splash was sold for £ 24M by Sotheby's on February 11, 2020, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Hockney offers in his art an interpretation of his fantasy, without seeking realism. For example, the horizon remains inspired by the photographic model but is extended through the bungalow without it being possible to decide whether it is a perspective or a reflection. A similar surreal illusion appears in a work from the same period, Beverly Hills Housewife, sold for $ 7.9M by Christie's on May 13, 2009.
A minimalist architecture better represents Californian homes. The roof in The Splash, still in conformance with the photo from the swimming pool marketing, is indeed too classic. It will be removed in the Bigger Splash and the BH Housewife paintings.
The artist copies the photo into a first painted version, A Little Splash, 40 x 50 cm. The painting liberates the theme from its documentary aspect. This scene where no character is left visible symbolizes with much more power the joy of living. The four edges of the canvas are not painted, in order to imitate the framing of a photo.
The effect is spectacular. David painstakingly executes two large acrylics, The Splash, 183 x 183 cm, before the end of the year, and A Bigger Splash, 242 x 244 cm, in the following year. The artist later had fun reminding that he spent two weeks expressing a splash that could not last more than two seconds.
The Splash was sold for £ 24M by Sotheby's on February 11, 2020, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Hockney offers in his art an interpretation of his fantasy, without seeking realism. For example, the horizon remains inspired by the photographic model but is extended through the bungalow without it being possible to decide whether it is a perspective or a reflection. A similar surreal illusion appears in a work from the same period, Beverly Hills Housewife, sold for $ 7.9M by Christie's on May 13, 2009.
A minimalist architecture better represents Californian homes. The roof in The Splash, still in conformance with the photo from the swimming pool marketing, is indeed too classic. It will be removed in the Bigger Splash and the BH Housewife paintings.
1967 Lawn Being Sprinkled
2024 SOLD for $ 28.6M by Christie's
From his short mission in Egypt in 1963, David Hockney was impressed by the use of water for living in the warmest countries. Water has no proper permanent shape. It takes the form of its containers and escapes in droplets and mist.
For expressing his beloved California, David fronts the challenge of the ephemeral shape of water. A diver leaves a splash over him when he disappears below the surface, something like a peaceful eruption.
A lawn in California is critically needing water. In 1967 David expresses it in three paintings. Two of them have a couple of jets of suspended droplets that blur the view of the building behind.
The third opus is geometrically daring, with three rows of sprinklers in a quincunx pattern, each element throwing a triangular jet of vaporized water. The background is made of a poor dark barn without window like a nightmare of Hopper plus a multicolored fence. A palm tree and a pole represent the outer world.
Titled by the artist Lawn being sprinkled, this acrylic on canvas 152 x 152 cm was sold for $ 28.6M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 10 B.
For expressing his beloved California, David fronts the challenge of the ephemeral shape of water. A diver leaves a splash over him when he disappears below the surface, something like a peaceful eruption.
A lawn in California is critically needing water. In 1967 David expresses it in three paintings. Two of them have a couple of jets of suspended droplets that blur the view of the building behind.
The third opus is geometrically daring, with three rows of sprinklers in a quincunx pattern, each element throwing a triangular jet of vaporized water. The background is made of a poor dark barn without window like a nightmare of Hopper plus a multicolored fence. A palm tree and a pole represent the outer world.
Titled by the artist Lawn being sprinkled, this acrylic on canvas 152 x 152 cm was sold for $ 28.6M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 10 B.
1969 Sainte-Maxime
2022 SOLD for £ 21M by Christie's
In 1966 Peter Schlesinger is attending a drawing class in Los Angeles. For this session, the teacher is David Hockney, an eccentric Brit with a tomato red suit, cardboard glasses and a terrible Yorkshire accent. It's love at first sight. Their life as a couple lasts several years, with social gatherings and travels.
In the fall of 1968, after a cruise down the Rhine, they are guested by the film director Tony Richardson in his villa Le Nid du Duc in the mountains over the Côte d'Azur.
David takes photos, from which he will realize four realistic paintings as souvenirs of that happy time.
Early morning, Sainte-Maxime, acrylic on canvas 122 x 153 cm painted in 1969, is a contre-jour view of the sea shore in that chic resort, taking advantage of the sunrise reflection on the sea for a range of bright colors, from the pink and violet sky to the purple, azure and aquamarine of the sea and the gold on sun light.
The picture includes the signature streaks for the stylized waves. A jetty at low tide looks like a Californian diving board. For the hypersensitive artist, the sunrise symbolizes the hope and joy of awakening.
This painting was sold for £ 21M from a lower estimate of £ 7M by Christie's on October 13, 2022, lot 8.
In the fall of 1968, after a cruise down the Rhine, they are guested by the film director Tony Richardson in his villa Le Nid du Duc in the mountains over the Côte d'Azur.
David takes photos, from which he will realize four realistic paintings as souvenirs of that happy time.
Early morning, Sainte-Maxime, acrylic on canvas 122 x 153 cm painted in 1969, is a contre-jour view of the sea shore in that chic resort, taking advantage of the sunrise reflection on the sea for a range of bright colors, from the pink and violet sky to the purple, azure and aquamarine of the sea and the gold on sun light.
The picture includes the signature streaks for the stylized waves. A jetty at low tide looks like a Californian diving board. For the hypersensitive artist, the sunrise symbolizes the hope and joy of awakening.
This painting was sold for £ 21M from a lower estimate of £ 7M by Christie's on October 13, 2022, lot 8.
1969 Geldzahler and Scott
2019 SOLD for £ 38M by Christie's
Looking for sexual freedom, David Hockney arrives in California in 1964. The easy life nevertheless does not answer his questioning about communication within a couple.
Between 1968 and 1977 he makes double portraits in very large format, 214 x 305 cm. He alternates between homosexual and heterosexual couples and ends the series with his own parents, clearly assessing that his concern is no longer sex but dialogue. The sitters are most often identified in the title and are very recognizable.
Invariably the two characters are distant from each other with a deliberately orthogonal gazing. In this strange intimacy, the painter is an invisible social voyeur.
Installed again in London in 1968, he does not neglect America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is preparing a major exhibition that will reveal post-war American art to the general public. The curator of this important cultural operation is the highly influential Henry Geldzahler.
Hockney arrives in Geldzahler's living room in Manhattan with his sketchbook, polaroid camera and flu. Back in his studio in London, he paints in 1969 'Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott'. This acrylic on canvas was sold for £ 38M by Christie's on March 6, 2019, lot 8.
The two men could not be more dissimilar and yet their life as a couple is sustainable. Robust and confident in himself, Geldzahler is comfortably seated in the middle of a beautiful sofa worthy of the greatest Art Deco collections. On the right, his young partner is standing, dressed in a raincoat too big for him and as stiff as the floor lamp. The scene is located by the skyscrapers beyond the small window.
Between 1968 and 1977 he makes double portraits in very large format, 214 x 305 cm. He alternates between homosexual and heterosexual couples and ends the series with his own parents, clearly assessing that his concern is no longer sex but dialogue. The sitters are most often identified in the title and are very recognizable.
Invariably the two characters are distant from each other with a deliberately orthogonal gazing. In this strange intimacy, the painter is an invisible social voyeur.
Installed again in London in 1968, he does not neglect America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is preparing a major exhibition that will reveal post-war American art to the general public. The curator of this important cultural operation is the highly influential Henry Geldzahler.
Hockney arrives in Geldzahler's living room in Manhattan with his sketchbook, polaroid camera and flu. Back in his studio in London, he paints in 1969 'Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott'. This acrylic on canvas was sold for £ 38M by Christie's on March 6, 2019, lot 8.
The two men could not be more dissimilar and yet their life as a couple is sustainable. Robust and confident in himself, Geldzahler is comfortably seated in the middle of a beautiful sofa worthy of the greatest Art Deco collections. On the right, his young partner is standing, dressed in a raincoat too big for him and as stiff as the floor lamp. The scene is located by the skyscrapers beyond the small window.
1971 Sur la Terrasse
2019 SOLD for $ 29.5M by Christie's
The life as a couple of David Hockney and Peter Schlesinger lasts several years. The age difference is too much and Peter needs new adventures. They start arguing.
In February 1971 the couple rents a hotel room in Marrakech. David sketches his friend, sometimes from behind, on the large sunny terrace. in the following month, back in his studio, David feels that Peter escapes him. He paints Sur la Terrasse (the title is in French), which he will finish during the summer.
Sur la Terrasse is a staging in three successive distances in the manner of Bonnard's terraces. In the background, the morning sun bathes the lush vegetation. The middle stage is the terrace on which Peter, seen from behind, is standing and looks at the garden. The foreground is the opening of the window from where we imagine that David is observing Peter.
At this time David works in the presence of Jack Hazan for preparing a biopic. The moviemaker has thus the chance to attend during the long period when the artist cannot overcome his first heartbreak. Hazan will also record in 1972 the preparation of Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) on the theme of Peter's interest in another man.
Sur la Terrasse had not been displayed to the public since 1973. This 275 x 214 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for $ 29.5M for sale by Christie's on November 13, 2019, lot 9 B. Portrait of an artist was sold for $ 90M by Christie's in 2018. The biopic A Bigger Splash was released in 1974.
In February 1971 the couple rents a hotel room in Marrakech. David sketches his friend, sometimes from behind, on the large sunny terrace. in the following month, back in his studio, David feels that Peter escapes him. He paints Sur la Terrasse (the title is in French), which he will finish during the summer.
Sur la Terrasse is a staging in three successive distances in the manner of Bonnard's terraces. In the background, the morning sun bathes the lush vegetation. The middle stage is the terrace on which Peter, seen from behind, is standing and looks at the garden. The foreground is the opening of the window from where we imagine that David is observing Peter.
At this time David works in the presence of Jack Hazan for preparing a biopic. The moviemaker has thus the chance to attend during the long period when the artist cannot overcome his first heartbreak. Hazan will also record in 1972 the preparation of Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) on the theme of Peter's interest in another man.
Sur la Terrasse had not been displayed to the public since 1973. This 275 x 214 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for $ 29.5M for sale by Christie's on November 13, 2019, lot 9 B. Portrait of an artist was sold for $ 90M by Christie's in 2018. The biopic A Bigger Splash was released in 1974.
1972 Portrait of an Artist
2018 SOLD for $ 90M by Christie's
David Hockney reaches his paradise on Earth in 1964. In Los Angeles the sky and the water of the pools are blue in different shades to which the midday sun brings a perfect purity. This atmosphere exacerbates his homosexual sensibility. Peter Schlesinger becomes his lover and muse in 1966.
David sees by chance on the floor of his studio the conjunction of two photographs that can constitute a scene : a swimmer under water and a standing boy watching something in the distance. The relationship between two men has always been one of his favorite themes. He has just found a way to express his affair with Peter.
It is not so easy for this hypersensitive artist. He destroys a first version. The sudden break between the lovers occurs around that time. In the spring of 1972 David leaves with two assistants to take photographs in a house of director Tony Richardson named Le Nid du Duc in the countryside above Saint-Tropez. During the summer of 1969 David and Peter had spent a few happy days at that place.
A photograph of the swimmer suits him. It will not be a self-portrait in the picture. For the properly dressed observer who will be standing up by the pool, he finds in his archives some photographs of the real Peter, as if David now agreed to entrust Peter to an unidentifiable swimmer.
The acrylic on canvas 213 x 305 cm painted in 1972 is titled Portrait of an Artist and subtitled Pool with Two Figures. The swimmer is under water and Peter is at the edge of the pool. Although Peter's gaze is directed towards the swimmer, communication between them is impossible.
In 1974 a biopic titled A Bigger Splash tells the story of the breaking up of David and Peter. David plays his own role. The film incorporates sequences that had been shot during the preparation of the Portrait of an Artist. The mix of emotion and real intimacy makes A Bigger Splash a cult film of the gay communities, to the point of shocking David himself. He will change his mind later.
This painting was sold for $ 90M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 9 C. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house including sequences from the movie.
David sees by chance on the floor of his studio the conjunction of two photographs that can constitute a scene : a swimmer under water and a standing boy watching something in the distance. The relationship between two men has always been one of his favorite themes. He has just found a way to express his affair with Peter.
It is not so easy for this hypersensitive artist. He destroys a first version. The sudden break between the lovers occurs around that time. In the spring of 1972 David leaves with two assistants to take photographs in a house of director Tony Richardson named Le Nid du Duc in the countryside above Saint-Tropez. During the summer of 1969 David and Peter had spent a few happy days at that place.
A photograph of the swimmer suits him. It will not be a self-portrait in the picture. For the properly dressed observer who will be standing up by the pool, he finds in his archives some photographs of the real Peter, as if David now agreed to entrust Peter to an unidentifiable swimmer.
The acrylic on canvas 213 x 305 cm painted in 1972 is titled Portrait of an Artist and subtitled Pool with Two Figures. The swimmer is under water and Peter is at the edge of the pool. Although Peter's gaze is directed towards the swimmer, communication between them is impossible.
In 1974 a biopic titled A Bigger Splash tells the story of the breaking up of David and Peter. David plays his own role. The film incorporates sequences that had been shot during the preparation of the Portrait of an Artist. The mix of emotion and real intimacy makes A Bigger Splash a cult film of the gay communities, to the point of shocking David himself. He will change his mind later.
This painting was sold for $ 90M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 9 C. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house including sequences from the movie.
1980 Nichols Canyon
2020 SOLD for $ 41M by Phillips
David Hockney could not do any more without Los Angeles. In 1978 he moves there permanently. The workshop is downside, in the plain of Santa Monica. The residence is up, in the Hollywood Hills. Everyday, morning and evening, his journey passes through Nichols Canyon. The environment is idyllic : swimming pools, palm trees, blue sky, bright colors.
The road is both winding and wide. It was built in 1925 to give the megalopolis a comfortable road escape to the north. David knows all its twists and turns. He drives with musical gestures. The melody he sings compensates for his increasing deafness.
David is not a professional musician. He is a pictorial artist. To express the pleasure of his journey, he paints in 1980 Nichols Canyon, acrylic on canvas 213 x 152 cm, with colors inspired by the vibrant exaggerations of the Fauvistes.
The musical meanders of the road cross all the space. It is a real road : its shortened name, Nichols Cyn Rd, is inscribed like on a road map. The STOP at the place where the road leaves the hills, in the foreground, marks the exit from that paradise. The red dot in the middle of the route symbolizes the artist's Mercedes-Benz.
Nichols Canyon was sold for $ 41M by Phillips on December 7, 2020, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
David had pleasure in communicating in this work his musical style of driving in the hills. Painted ten years later with the same inspiration in a more spectacular perspective, Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm, was sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
The road is both winding and wide. It was built in 1925 to give the megalopolis a comfortable road escape to the north. David knows all its twists and turns. He drives with musical gestures. The melody he sings compensates for his increasing deafness.
David is not a professional musician. He is a pictorial artist. To express the pleasure of his journey, he paints in 1980 Nichols Canyon, acrylic on canvas 213 x 152 cm, with colors inspired by the vibrant exaggerations of the Fauvistes.
The musical meanders of the road cross all the space. It is a real road : its shortened name, Nichols Cyn Rd, is inscribed like on a road map. The STOP at the place where the road leaves the hills, in the foreground, marks the exit from that paradise. The red dot in the middle of the route symbolizes the artist's Mercedes-Benz.
Nichols Canyon was sold for $ 41M by Phillips on December 7, 2020, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
David had pleasure in communicating in this work his musical style of driving in the hills. Painted ten years later with the same inspiration in a more spectacular perspective, Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm, was sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
1990 Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica
2018 SOLD for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's
David Hockney has his studio in Santa Monica. In the mid afternoon he returns home to Hollywood Hills by the Pacific Coast Highway. The journey is long and repetitive. In 1990 he prepares a 90-minute tape of Wagner's music on a rhythm that matches the immutable sequence of the visited landscape.
He installs a control panel and twelve speakers in his vintage red convertible Mercedes. He names My Wagner Drive this unprecedented audio-landscape work that has no meaning outside his usual transit on the highway.
At that time Hockney is not very active in his main occupation as a graphic artist. He wants his art to be happy but many of his friends are dying of AIDS. Wagner's road helps him against his doubts.
On May 16, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.5M from a lower estimate of $ 20M Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm painted in 1990, lot 21.
This painting is an accumulation of rare colors in closed surfaces. Its naive geometric composition meets the taste of the classical Chinese landscape that brings together several observation points for a more spectacular effect, in opposition to works inspired by photography. The winding road is the only evidence of a human intervention.
Later in a trend towards monumental painting, Hockney will divide the landscape into a grid of autonomous canvases, confirming that even when his subject is unique his point of observation is not. Painted in 1998 the 169 x 167 cm view of the Grand Canyon is an example of this once again unconventional phase. This study in fifteen parts was sold for £ 6M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017.
He installs a control panel and twelve speakers in his vintage red convertible Mercedes. He names My Wagner Drive this unprecedented audio-landscape work that has no meaning outside his usual transit on the highway.
At that time Hockney is not very active in his main occupation as a graphic artist. He wants his art to be happy but many of his friends are dying of AIDS. Wagner's road helps him against his doubts.
On May 16, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.5M from a lower estimate of $ 20M Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm painted in 1990, lot 21.
This painting is an accumulation of rare colors in closed surfaces. Its naive geometric composition meets the taste of the classical Chinese landscape that brings together several observation points for a more spectacular effect, in opposition to works inspired by photography. The winding road is the only evidence of a human intervention.
Later in a trend towards monumental painting, Hockney will divide the landscape into a grid of autonomous canvases, confirming that even when his subject is unique his point of observation is not. Painted in 1998 the 169 x 167 cm view of the Grand Canyon is an example of this once again unconventional phase. This study in fifteen parts was sold for £ 6M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017.
masterpiece
1998 A Bigger Grand Canyon
National Gallery of Australia
The landscape should be the most authentic expression of nature. In the 20th century, the theme became boring, in large part due to the overabundance of photographs. In his permanent desire to act against the tide, David Hockney manages to rehabilitate the landscape.
He has a revelation in a road tunnel in 1985. The dot of light he sees beyond the darkness grows larger as the car moves forward. Photography lies doubly, because it shows the landscape from a still point of view and because the lens brings distortions. To paint a landscape, it will first be necessary to abolish perspective. The old Chinese masters understood it : their hand scrolls are travellings.
The division of an image into sections had been made necessary by the small individual format of the paper pulps prints, a technique tested by the artist in 1978. He applies this principle to painting.
Painted by Hockney in 1998, 15 Canvas Study of the Grand Canyon is an assembly of five rows of three columns for an overall size of 170 x 167 cm. The technique flattens the perspective from a natural plateau with scattered trees, with the sun drenched Colorado canyon below a high horizon line, providing overall a spectacular immersion. The Study was sold for £ 6M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017, lot 6.
This view is a preparation 207 x 750 cm Bigger Grand Canyon in a 12 x 5 arrangement also painted in 1998. currently kept at the National Gallery of Australia.
In 2007 Bigger Trees near Warter, again in Yorkshire, measures 460 x 1220 cm overall in 50 panels which cancel the distortion.
He has a revelation in a road tunnel in 1985. The dot of light he sees beyond the darkness grows larger as the car moves forward. Photography lies doubly, because it shows the landscape from a still point of view and because the lens brings distortions. To paint a landscape, it will first be necessary to abolish perspective. The old Chinese masters understood it : their hand scrolls are travellings.
The division of an image into sections had been made necessary by the small individual format of the paper pulps prints, a technique tested by the artist in 1978. He applies this principle to painting.
Painted by Hockney in 1998, 15 Canvas Study of the Grand Canyon is an assembly of five rows of three columns for an overall size of 170 x 167 cm. The technique flattens the perspective from a natural plateau with scattered trees, with the sun drenched Colorado canyon below a high horizon line, providing overall a spectacular immersion. The Study was sold for £ 6M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017, lot 6.
This view is a preparation 207 x 750 cm Bigger Grand Canyon in a 12 x 5 arrangement also painted in 1998. currently kept at the National Gallery of Australia.
In 2007 Bigger Trees near Warter, again in Yorkshire, measures 460 x 1220 cm overall in 50 panels which cancel the distortion.
2009 Winter Timber
2022 SOLD for $ 23.3M by Christie's
Back in 2005 in his beloved East Yorkshire, David Hockney observes the variation of light through the seasons. He took an increased interest to large size views of the countryside in 2006 when visiting the exhibition at Tate Britain where all the six-footers by Constable were exhibited together for the first time ever.
In a systematic approach throughout 2006, he executes nine views of Woldgate Woods each one consisting of two rows of three panels for an overall 183 x 366 cm. An autumn scenery was sold for $ 11.7M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016, lot 43.
In the following years he maintains this interest in the seasons in series of individual views. Winter is characterized by the felled timber along the road, for which he enhances the colors in a Fauvist manner. He looks at the geometric contrast between the leafless trees that are surviving winter and the trunks stacked on the ground for the timber industry.
Felled Trees, oil on canvas 122 x 152 cm painted in 2008, was sold for $ 10.8M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 35A. The picture is focused on the foreground of bright stylized logs lying on a deep purple soil.
This painting in a single panel looks like a preparation to the immersive Winter timber, oil on canvas 274 x 610 cm overall in 15 parts painted in 2009 in a totally different angle of view but similar shapes and colors.
This piece is also a keen aesthetic analysis of a confrontation of horizontals, verticals and curves. The contrast is striking between the stacks of freshly felled timber along a road in soft curves and the upright trees and of a remaining trunk in the foreground. the gently turning road provides the geometric anchor to the composition.
Winter Timber was sold for $ 23.3M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 43.
Another painting featuring the felled trees, a stump and the pathway in the woods going to a clearance of white sky is titled More Woldgate Timber and dated October 13th 2009. This oil on canvas 92 x 122 cm was sold for £ 4.6M by Christie's on October 9, 2024, lot 30.
Also in 2009, the bright colors of spring are the subject of a pastoral scenery. A lane is gently waving with its parallel tracks from the foreground to the horizon. It provides the leading lines separating an open field from the shrubs. The single view point at eye level waives the usual challenging of the perspective by the artist. This oil on single canvas 91 x 183 cm titled Early Blossom and located in Woldgate was sold for $ 19.4M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 37A.
In his most recent landscapes, David Hockney uses to refer to his predecessors including Constable. He nevertheless manages to deeply amend that tradition. He combines a monumental size with vibrant colors for a joyous effect and plays with the outlines and the fragmentation of the canvases to supersede perspective by emotion.
Queen Anne's Lace near Kilham is an oil on single rectangular canvas 170 x 260 cm dated 2010-2011 by the artist. It displays a field wildly populated by a carpet of tall carrot umbels. A frieze of three trees narrows the sky above the horizon and is cut off by the upper edge of the canvas.
This humble theme in his beloved East Yorkshire countryside may remind Monet's flowerbeds in Argenteuil and meadows with poppies near Giverny, in patterns which recede to pointillism in the distance. Queen Anne's Lace was sold for $ 18.7M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 50.
In 2021 at the height of the covid lockdown, Spring cannot be cancelled is a series of conversations by Hockney, then residing in Normandie, with Martin Gayford. The octogenarian artist manages to forward his enthusiasm for the joyous mood of nature.
In a systematic approach throughout 2006, he executes nine views of Woldgate Woods each one consisting of two rows of three panels for an overall 183 x 366 cm. An autumn scenery was sold for $ 11.7M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016, lot 43.
In the following years he maintains this interest in the seasons in series of individual views. Winter is characterized by the felled timber along the road, for which he enhances the colors in a Fauvist manner. He looks at the geometric contrast between the leafless trees that are surviving winter and the trunks stacked on the ground for the timber industry.
Felled Trees, oil on canvas 122 x 152 cm painted in 2008, was sold for $ 10.8M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 35A. The picture is focused on the foreground of bright stylized logs lying on a deep purple soil.
This painting in a single panel looks like a preparation to the immersive Winter timber, oil on canvas 274 x 610 cm overall in 15 parts painted in 2009 in a totally different angle of view but similar shapes and colors.
This piece is also a keen aesthetic analysis of a confrontation of horizontals, verticals and curves. The contrast is striking between the stacks of freshly felled timber along a road in soft curves and the upright trees and of a remaining trunk in the foreground. the gently turning road provides the geometric anchor to the composition.
Winter Timber was sold for $ 23.3M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 43.
Another painting featuring the felled trees, a stump and the pathway in the woods going to a clearance of white sky is titled More Woldgate Timber and dated October 13th 2009. This oil on canvas 92 x 122 cm was sold for £ 4.6M by Christie's on October 9, 2024, lot 30.
Also in 2009, the bright colors of spring are the subject of a pastoral scenery. A lane is gently waving with its parallel tracks from the foreground to the horizon. It provides the leading lines separating an open field from the shrubs. The single view point at eye level waives the usual challenging of the perspective by the artist. This oil on single canvas 91 x 183 cm titled Early Blossom and located in Woldgate was sold for $ 19.4M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 37A.
In his most recent landscapes, David Hockney uses to refer to his predecessors including Constable. He nevertheless manages to deeply amend that tradition. He combines a monumental size with vibrant colors for a joyous effect and plays with the outlines and the fragmentation of the canvases to supersede perspective by emotion.
Queen Anne's Lace near Kilham is an oil on single rectangular canvas 170 x 260 cm dated 2010-2011 by the artist. It displays a field wildly populated by a carpet of tall carrot umbels. A frieze of three trees narrows the sky above the horizon and is cut off by the upper edge of the canvas.
This humble theme in his beloved East Yorkshire countryside may remind Monet's flowerbeds in Argenteuil and meadows with poppies near Giverny, in patterns which recede to pointillism in the distance. Queen Anne's Lace was sold for $ 18.7M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 50.
In 2021 at the height of the covid lockdown, Spring cannot be cancelled is a series of conversations by Hockney, then residing in Normandie, with Martin Gayford. The octogenarian artist manages to forward his enthusiasm for the joyous mood of nature.
