David Hockney, one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, has produced a vast body of work spanning decades. From his early homoerotic paintings to his monumental iPad creations, here is a selection of his greatest works.
We Two Boys Together Clinging, 1961
This homoerotic painting was inspired by a newspaper story about a mountaineering accident headlined: 'Two Boys Cling to Cliff All Night.' Hockney enjoyed the double meaning, having a crush on Cliff Richard, and it nods to the Walt Whitman poem of the same name.
Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool, 1966
Peter Schlesinger, Hockney's boyfriend at the time, is depicted getting out of a pool owned by Nick Wilder, an art dealer. Hockney used a Polaroid of Peter leaning naked against a car bonnet and added wavy white lines to suggest ripples.
Beverly Hills Housewife, 1966-67
Betty Freeman, an art collector and close friend, was originally to be painted with her pool, but Hockney chose to portray her instead. Her pink dress, zebra-print chair, and abstract sculpture evoke mid-century opulence. The work sold for $7.9m after her death.
A Bigger Splash, 1967
Perhaps the most famous splash in art, this painting captures California's pool culture. Hockney painted numerous pools from 1964 to 1971, each tackling the challenge of depicting water's movement.
Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, 1968
A landmark queer art piece, painted when homosexuality was illegal in California. Isherwood sits on the right, Bachardy on the left. Hockney captured their dynamic after observing Isherwood's leg-over-knee pose.
Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 1970–71
This portrait of fashion designer Ossie Clark and textile designer Celia Birtwell features a cat named Blanche, but Hockney renamed it Percy for rhythm. The husband sits while the wife stands, subverting wedding portrait conventions.
Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures), 1972
Considered Hockney's greatest painting, it sold for $90.3m in 2018. The work shows a man by a pool watching a swimmer, capturing the end of Hockney's affair with Peter Schlesinger.
Kerby (After Hogarth) Useful Knowledge, 1975
This parody of Hogarth's engraving marks Hockney's first experiment with reverse perspective, challenging traditional Western perspective.
Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio, 1980
Over 6m wide, this work depicts Hockney's daily commute from Hollywood Hills to his studio, celebrating the California landscape with vivid colors.
Pearblossom Hwy (Second Version), 1986
A photographic collage made from hundreds of photos, this cubist take on the Mojave Desert collapses perspective and immerses the viewer in a road trip.
Hockney and his dachshunds Stanley and Boodgie, 1995
Hockney's beloved dachshunds appear in hundreds of works, exploring perspective, color, and composition through playful depictions.
Bigger Trees near Warter, 2007
One of Hockney's largest works, over 12m wide, showing a coppice in Yorkshire. He used computer technology to view the work due to studio space constraints.
Winter Timber, 2009
This Fauvist-hued painting marks a late-career phase of large-scale Yorkshire landscapes, capturing the beauty of winter trees.
May Blossom on the Roman Road, 2009
An eight-canvas panorama of blooming hawthorn bushes near Kilham, Yorkshire, showing Hockney's liberated use of color.
The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire, 2011
A series of iPad drawings capturing winter turning to spring, highlighting Hockney's embrace of digital technology.
A Year in Normandie, 2020-2021
A 70m-long iPad work inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, showing seasons in Normandy. Created during lockdown, it is on display at the Serpentine in London.
