David Hockney (born 1937) is a British painter, draftsman, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer whose work helped define the visual language of postwar art. Emerging as a leading figure in the 1960s Pop art movement, he is celebrated for his bold use of color, exploration of perspective, and inventive embrace of new media, from Polaroid collages to digital tablets.
Key facts
Born: July 9, 1937, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Education: Royal College of Art, London
Notable work:Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972)
Awards: Order of Merit (UK) (2012); Companion of Honour (1997)
Residence: Normandy, France, and Yorkshire, England
Early life and education
Raised in Bradford, Hockney studied at the Bradford School of Art and later at the Royal College of Art, where his talent for drawing and wit quickly gained notice. His early works blended personal themes of sexuality and self-identity with the pop sensibility of postwar Britain, establishing him as a major young artist by the time of his 1961 Young Contemporaries exhibition.
Style and themes
Hockney’s art is defined by experimentation and emotional candor. His Californian pool scenes of the late 1960s became icons of modern art, capturing light, leisure, and queer domesticity with serene geometry. He also redefined portraiture through repeated depictions of friends, family, and lovers—rendered in luminous color and exacting composition.
Innovation and technology
Throughout his career, Hockney has merged traditional and new technologies. His 1980s “joiners” reassembled hundreds of Polaroid photographs into Cubist-inspired mosaics. Later, he pioneered the use of iPads for drawing, producing works such as The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire (2011). His digital and stage designs reflect an enduring fascination with how perception and technology shape seeing.
Legacy and recognition
Hockney is one of Britain’s most influential living artists. In 2018, his Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for over $90 million, making him the most expensive living artist at auction at the time. He was named to Time 100’s list of most influential people in 2019, recognized for his technical innovation and sustained reimagining of contemporary painting.
