David Hockney OM CH RA (9 July 1937 โ 11 June 2026) was an English painter, stage designer and photographer. He was an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s and is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
๐ Early Life and Education
David Hockney was born on 9 July 1937 in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He was the fourth of five children of Kenneth Hockney and Laura nรฉe Thompson.
He was educated at Wellington Primary School, Bradford Grammar School, Bradford College of Art, and the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London. At the RCA he met R. B. Kitaj, Frank Bowling, and Neil Stokoe.
๐ Career and Recognition
At the RCA Hockney featured alongside Peter Blake in the exhibition New Contemporaries, which announced the arrival of British Pop art. When the RCA said it would not let him graduate in 1962, Hockney painted Life Painting for a Diploma in protest.
Recognising his talent and growing reputation, the RCA changed its regulations and awarded him a diploma. He exhibited internationally with several important retrospectives at leading institutions and was the recipient of major civic and institutional honours.
๐ด California and Major Works
In 1964, Hockney moved to Los Angeles, where he was inspired to make a series of paintings of swimming pools in acrylic medium using vibrant colours. He lived at various times in Los Angeles, London, and Paris from the late 1960s to 1970s.
In 1978 he rented a home in the Hollywood Hills; he later bought and expanded the house to include his studio. In the 1990s, Hockney returned more often to Yorkshire, usually every three months, to visit his mother.
๐ธ Photography and Printmaking
In the early 1980s, Hockney began to produce photo collages, which he referred to as “joiners”. He used multiple prints of a single subject arranged in a patchwork to make a composite image.
Hockney experimented with printmaking as early as a lithograph Self-Portrait in 1954 and worked in etchings during his time at RCA. In 1973 Hockney began a fruitful collaboration with Aldo Crommelynck, Picasso’s preferred printer.
๐ญ Personal Life and Later Career
Hockney came out as gay as a young man several years before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain. He lived between Britain and America.
In spring 2020 he stayed at La Grande Cour, a farmhouse and studio in Normandy, during the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the late 2010s auctions sales established him as the most expensive living artist.
| Category | Detail | Category | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 9 July 1937, Bradford, England | Died | 11 June 2026 |
| Movement | Pop art | Education | Royal College of Art |
| Key Mediums | Painting, printmaking, photography, digital art | Notable Series | Swimming pools, joiners, portraits |
| Major Move | Los Angeles in 1964 | Honours | OM, CH, RA |