David Hockney, one of Britain’s most celebrated artists and a defining figure in 20th-century visual culture, has died at the age of 88.
His death was confirmed by his publicist. Hockney, born in Bradford in 1937, became internationally known for paintings that transformed the light, architecture and swimming pools of Southern California into some of the most recognisable images of modern art.
After studying at Bradford College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, Hockney emerged in the 1960s as part of a generation that challenged the boundaries between fine art, popular culture and personal identity. Although often linked to pop art, his work moved across styles and mediums, from painting and printmaking to photography, stage design and digital drawing.
His move to Los Angeles in the 1960s gave his work a new visual language. Paintings such as “A Bigger Splash” and “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” captured still water, bright colour and the emotional distance of modern life. The latter sold for $90.3 million in 2018, then a record for a living artist.
Hockney was also one of the most prominent openly gay artists of his generation. Early works explored male intimacy and desire at a time when homosexuality remained illegal in Britain, giving his art both personal and social significance.
In later decades, he turned increasingly to landscape. Yorkshire fields, Normandy gardens and the changing seasons became central to his work, particularly through iPad drawings and large-scale digital projects. His recent exhibitions in Paris and London showed an artist still experimenting well into old age.
Hockney’s career lasted more than six decades and never settled into one form. His legacy rests not only on the famous pools, but on a lifelong insistence that art could keep looking fresh, joyful and alive.
Source: ABC, BBC
