Biography
David Hockney studied at Bradford College of Art, then at the Royal College of Art in London, where he graduated in 1962. In London, his personality stood out on the art scene. In 1963, he left for New York, but it was California that captivated him. A symbol of the American Dream, this state would become a major inspiration: there he discovered another life, one with beautiful villas and swimming pools as well as a burgeoning gay community, which he joined openly. In 1973, Jack Hazan made A Bigger Splash, a semi-fictional documentary that cemented Hockney’s international reputation.
Hockney draws inspiration from his immediate environment: his family and friends, the landscapes surrounding him, and the artists he admires. He rejects abstract and conceptual art and does not wish to be pigeonholed in any “school”. Taking advantage of new tools to explore other artistic avenues, he is eminently responsive to new technology: from fax and photocopy to iPhone, iPad, computers and video.
In 2017, for Hockney’s 80th birthday, a retrospective began at Tate Britain, London, and travelled to the Centre Pompidou in Paris and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 2025, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris hosted his largest exhibition to date.
Hockney’s work is seen all around the world, for instance at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia); Louisiana Museum of Art (Humlebæk, Denmark); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (United States); Museum Ludwig (Cologne, Germany); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, United States); Musée national d’Art moderne (Paris, France); Museo Tamayo (Mexico City, Mexico); Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, United States); Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, United States); National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C., United States); National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia); National Portrait Gallery (London, UK); Royal Academy of Arts (London, UK); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (United States); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (United States); Tate Galleries (London, UK); British Museum (London, UK).
Galerie Lelong has exhibited David Hockney’s work regularly since 2001.
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