David Hockney
(2008) 
 

 Three Trees Near Thixendale, Spring 2008 is one of four pieces that David Hockney painted from the same spot during the winter and summer of 2007, and the spring and autumn of 2008. No matter which picture you observe you cannot fail to be impressed with his vivid colours. Spring's here again, the winter has surrendered to the new beginnings found in a springtime lansdacpe, but spring passes into summer and you are all too acutely aware of it here. The emerging wildflowers and foliage coming into leaf recall the ghosts of the seasons past and remind us that with their emerging they too will die in the cycle of the seasons. All things must pass.
Paul Page, 2012

Three Trees Near Thixendale, Spring
2008
Oil on 8 canvases 
91.5 x 122 each  (183 x 244 overall)
Private collection
https://www.thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/artwork/2472

David Hockney
(2010) 

 

David Hockney’s Woldgate Woods, Winter, 2010 is a dazzling continuation of the artist’s career-consuming project to better see the world around him. Filmed as part of a yearlong immersion in the landscape of the Yorkshire Wolds, this exquisite, sunbathed snowscape takes the viewer on a cinematic pilgrimage of sight. Against a clear blue sky a thick blanket of snow carpets the ground and encrusts the canopied branches of the trees. In places sun floods the frame, hanging low and out of sight, and casting long, dramatic shadows across the woodland floor as tones of cool, pale blue give way to shimmering bright whites. Part of a seasonal quartet documenting the effects of light and time on place, the film combines archetypal themes of Hockney’s practice with his insatiable pursuit of new technologies. 
Woldgate Woods, Winter, 2010 has been exhibited in numerous surveys of the artist’s work, including the major travelling retrospective David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, which opened at the Royal Academy, London in 2012.

Woldgate Woods, Winter, 
2010
Nine synchronised digital videos
overall: 206 x 362cm.
Executed in 2010, this work is number seven from an edition of ten plus two artist's proofs
Private collection (sold at Christie’s 5Mar 2025)
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6523681
https://www.thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/chronology/2010
https://youtu.be/SMjvI5aa9TE?si=aHQj-V4ws_LG9k_i

 <b>David Hockney</b>

(2009) 

 

 Writing in The Guardian, Adrian Searle spoke of the next landscape as having ‘an almost surreal and visionary delight’, culminating in...

'''...a painting so over the top...that it looks as though giant caterpillars were climbing all over a kind of mad topiary, beneath a roaring Van Goghish sky. I wish more works could be as crazy as this: Hockney captures and amplifies something of the astonishment of hawthorns in bloom.'[Adrian Searle] 

It is a very weird painting."

https://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/david-hockney-a-bigger-picture/
https://arthur.io/art/david-hockney/may-blossom-on-the-roman-road

May Blossom on the Roman Road
2009
Oil on 8 canvases 
91.5 x 122 each (182.8 x 244 overall)
Private collection
Exhibited at the Foundation Louis Vuitton in 2025
https://www.pacegallery.com/journal/david-hockney-fondation-louis-vuitton/

 

 

 David Hockney
(2008) 
 

Painted from memory, with brighter colours and broader outlines, Hawthorn Blossom Near Rudston 2008 takes on a different, more surreal character from the Yorkshire works painted outdoors, with the form, colours and perspectives simplified as the artist allowed his imagination to fill the canvas. 

Hawthorn blossom near Rudston
2008
Oil on 2 canvasses 
(Each 152.4 x 122 cm ) Overall 152.4 x 244cm
Private collection

 David Hockney
(2005) 
 

Today one of the Yorkshire landscapes that is not of monumental size

Tree tunnel, August 2005
Oil on canvas
61 x 91cm
Private collection


David Hockney
(2009)
 

The monumental scale of these landscapes results in a paintings that emits the palpable sense of the dramatic beauty that Hockney saw in the Yorkshire landscape. 

In this case, depicting a copse of majestic, tall trees, a series of strong verticals dominate the upper portion of the canvases. The fastidious nature of these solid upright forms is disrupted only by delicate branches that emerge from the trunks at acute angles. In the middle-ground, this verticality is contrasted by the horizontal arrangement of the freshly felled trees that lie to the side of the country lane, their pale color contrasting with the dark tomes of their living counterparts. The foreshortening of their limbs acts to draw the eye into the composition, contrasting with the dominant vertical of the totemic trees (as Hockney termed them) such as the one that stands guard over its fallen comrades. Finally, the gentle curve of the country lane as it sweeps through the composition offsets and softens the strict rigidity of the rest of the overall composition.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6397134

Winter Timber
2009
Oil on canvas in 15 parts
Overall: 274.3 x 609.6 cm
Private collection (Sold by Christie’s on 9 Nov 2022)
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6397134

 David Hockney
(2006) 
 

Throughout 2006, Hockney executed a limited series of paintings of the Woldgate Woods in his native Yorkshire, charting the changes in light and colour as the seasons passed. Limited by the size of the canvas he was able to fit through the staircase at his Bridlington studio, he devised a method of using multiple canvases in order to achieve the desired scale. Woldgate Woods, 24, 25 and 26 October 2006, capturing the autumnal colors of East Yorkshire, is composed using six of these canvases. The huge public and critical success of this body of work has led to this quiet corner in the north east of England becoming known as ‘Hockney Country’, with the local tourist board even creating a Hockney Trail inspired by the locations immortalized in the series.

Woldgate Woods 24, 25, and 26 October 2006
Oil on canvas, in six parts
182.9 x 365.7 cm
Private collection (Sold by Sotheby’s 2016)
https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/contemporary-art-evening-auction-n09572/lot.43.html

 <b>David Hockney</b>
(2007) 
 

 For the next work, Hockney travelled in a pickup and with his assistant to Warter so as to paint on site over a period of three weeks. The artist could only work simultaneously on six canvases outdoors, and in his studio in Bridlington he could only observe a maximum of ten of the 50 canvases that make up this work at one time. For which reason he used a computer to verify whether the different images fit together and to record the painting’s progress.

https://www.hockney2022.ch/en/hockney/landschaft/

Bigger trees Near Warter
2007
Oil on 50 canvases 
91 x 122 cm (each) 457 x 1219 cm overall
Private collection
https://www.hockney2022.ch/en/hockney/landschaft/

 David Hockney
(1998) 
 

 David Hockney first gained recognition for his Pop Art paintings, drawings and prints in the 1960s, but he has also considered the traditional subject of landscape throughout his career. 

In the 1990s he returned to his native Yorkshire and was inspired by the countryside, yet interpreted it with an acknowledgment of early 20th century artists. The vibrant palette and bold brushstrokes of this work recall Matisse and Van Gogh rather than the meticulously rendered compositions typical of his own earlier work. The high horizon and distant patchwork of the Yorkshire moors suggest the artist's view was from a striking and distant vantagepoint.

Garrowby Hill
1998
Oil on canvas
152 x 193cm 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/51520/garrowby-hill;jsessionid=58A8D3EF9CFCDBC3D7097EDE1E1D58C4?ctx=9b446654-2f08-40e1-8541-aa6c0055177b&idx=5

 David Hockney
(1985) 

A last one of the "Joiners" before we turn to the landscape paintings of the 1990's

The location chosen for the next artwork has been described as one of the most romantic settings in Paris. Apart from providing visual elements for tourists, Place Furstenberg also carries architectural significance, given its historical background in housing an abbey. Created over three days – August 7th through 9th – this artwork showcases Hockney’s experimentation with multiple photography techniques while creating masterful art pieces that retain their relevance even up till today.
In essence, Place Furstenberg joins both history and contemporary art through Hockney’s eye for detail while retaining its beauty almost four decades after it was created.

Place Furstenberg, Paris, August 1985
1985
Collage of chromogenic prints (Edition of 2)
110.5 × 155.9 cm
Collection of the artist

 David Hockney
(1983) 
 

In the next collage, Hockney captures a conversation between the novelist Christopher Isherwood and his friend Bob Holman, resulting in an intimate, layered portrayal that blends personal connection with a sense of movement and time.
The choice of subject-Christopher Isherwood, a prominent writer, and Bob Holman-adds a layer of significance to the piece. Both individuals were part of Hockney's social circle in Los Angeles, a city whose artistic and cultural vibrancy Hockney celebrated. By choosing to portray Isherwood, Hockney acknowledges the influence of literary and intellectual figures on his own life and work, honoring these connections while pushing the boundaries of photographic representation.

Christopher Isherwood talking to Bob Holman
1983
Photographic Joiner (edition of 20)
88.9 x 139.7 cm
Private collection (Edition #9 Sold by Heritage Auctions on Dec 10 2024)
https://fineart.ha.com/itm/photographs/david-hockney-b-1937-christopher-isherwood-talking-to-bob-holman-santa-monica-1983dyecoupler-photograph-collage/a/8182-77070.s

 David Hockney

(1983) 

As one of Hockney’s photo collages, or “joiners,” Walking in the Zen Garden at the Ryoanji Temple, the present lot, utilizes the layering of each Polaroid images to tease the two-dimensionality of photography. Stones in the garden sit in the distance while Hockney’s feet stagger along the bottom border. Here, Hockney creates a sense of space while encouraging the viewer to participate in it.

https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/horizon-post-war-contemporary-art/david-hockney-b-1937-29/60044

Walking in the Zen Garden at the Ryoanji Temple
1983
Photographic Joiner (edition of 20)
101.6 x 158.8
Private collection (#7 sold by Christie’s 23 aug 2018)
https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/horizon-post-war-contemporary-art/david-hockney-b-1937-29/60044

 David Hockney
(1982) 
 

Next a photo collage of Hockneys mother at Bolton Abbey. Hockney made this photo collage titled My Mother, Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire,  in November 1982. The style of this montage was termed Photo Joiners by Hockney. 

https://www.artchive.com/artwork/my-mother-bolton-abbet-david-hockney/

Mother, Bolton Abbey
1982
Photographic print
Edition of 20
119 x 69 cm
Among others: The National Media Museum, Bradford
Private collections

https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-david-hockney/collection-photo-collages/artwork-my-mother-bolton-abbey-yorkshire-november-signed-print?lang=en&slug=david-hockney&collectionTaxonomy=collection&collection=photo-collages&artworkSlug=my-mother-bolton-abbey-yorkshire-november-signed-print

 <b>David Hockney</b>
(1982) 
 

Next is a portrait of John Kasmin, the London art dealer who was instrumental in establishing David Hockney's career during the 1960s. But again this is no ordinary portrait. As with the previous ones this is also built from dozens of separate photographs, each taken from a slightly different angle and at a slightly different moment. Hockney believed that our eyes never remain fixed like a camera lens. We constantly scan a face, assembling our own mental image. With his photographic joiners, he tried to recreate that experience, inviting us to look at the portrait the way we naturally look at a person.

Kasmin, Los Angeles 28th March 1982
1982
Photographic Joiner
106 x 75.6 cm
David Hockney collection
https://www.artchive.com/artwork/kasmin-los-angeles-28th-march-1982-david-hockney-1982/

David Hockney
(1986)

 'Pearblossom Highway' shows a crossroads in a very wide open space, which you only get a sense of in the western United States. . . . [The] picture was not just about a crossroads, but about us driving around. I'd had three days of driving and being the passenger. The driver and the passenger see the road in different ways. When you drive you read all the road signs, but when you're the passenger, you don't, you can decide to look where you want. And the picture dealt with that: on the right-hand side of the road it's as if you're the driver, reading traffic signs to tell you what to do and so on, and on the left-hand side it's as if you're a passenger going along the road more slowly, looking all around. So the picture is about driving without the car being in it.
Thus David Hockney described the circumstances leading to the creation of this photocollage of the scenic Pearblossom Highway north of Los Angeles. His detailed collage reveals the more mundane observations of a road trip. The littered cans and bottles and the meandering line where the pavement ends and the sand begins point to the interruption of the desert landscape by the roads cutting through it and the imprint of careless travelers.

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103QT4

Pearblossom Highway
April 11-18, 1986
Chromogenic print
181.6 × 271.8 cm
Getty Center, L.A.
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103QT4

 <b>David Hockney</b>
(1982) 

Next works by Hockney are from the series of photo collage works. Hockney would use many pieces of photographs to develop a montage that would show a wholesome picture but appear distorted. 
The style of this montage was termed Photo Joiners by Hockney. He shared that these works are inspired by Cubism. He stated, “Cubism is difficult to grasp, even for me. I’ve looked at some cubist paintings for 25 years without understanding them. People said cubism led to abstraction but that’s another art-history swindle. Suddenly I see cubism differently, more clearly. And my experiments have led me to a couple of theories of my own…”

Gregory Swimming, Los Angeles
1982
Composite polaroid
68.5 x 130 cm
Private collection

Gregory Swimming, Instalation

 David Hockney
(1984 - 1986) 


Moving Focus Series

David Hockney’s Moving Focus series, 1984–1986, comprises of 26 lithographs exploring interiors, portraits, and architectural spaces through shifting viewpoints. Created with printer Kenneth Tyler, the series reflects David Hockney’s interest in multipoint perspective, moving beyond traditional composition to capture the experience of being within a space. Key works such as The Perspective Lesson and Hotel Acatlán: Second Day highlight the series’ importance within Hockney’s printmaking career.
 
In Moving Focus, David Hockney challenges the single-point perspective that has defined Western art since the Renaissance, instead constructing compositions that shift across multiple viewpoints. Influenced by Cubism and his work in opera set design, he presents space as something fluid and experienced over time rather than fixed and static. This approach was further shaped by his encounter with Chinese scroll paintings during a trip in 1981, where images unfold gradually across extended horizontal formats.

An Image of Gregory, 1984-85
Lithograph printed in colours with collage additions on two sheets of TGL handmade paper
82.7 cm × 66.5 cm, 116.7 cm × 90.6 cm
Edition of 75 plus 18 artist's proofs
https://geistmc.com/our-artists/david-hockney/moving-focus/

 David Hockney
(1983) 

In the autumn of 1983 Hockney made a whole series of self portraits in charcoal. Mostly early in the morning.
This is one of the 26th of September.

Self-portrait 26th Sept.
1983
Charcoal on paper
76.2 x 57.2 cm
SFMOMA, San Francisco
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/FC.642/
https://www.thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/chronology/1983

 David Hockney
(1971) 
 

Textile designer, Celia Birtwell, has been a dear friend and close confidante to David Hockney since the 1960s. With their northern roots and shared sense of humour, they found they had much in common from their first meeting and together they were at the heart of bohemian London. The artist has always been fascinated by the changing nature of Celia’s face, and she remained one of his favourite models.

Although often dubbed Hockney’s ‘muse’, their relationship is much more than that. They have always admired each other’s work and her sittings for him have been collaborations, as well as an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company. In his portraits of Celia, the artist has always paid close attention to her distinctive and romantic fabric designs and some of Celia’s own work is inspired by the artist.

Celia Carennac, August 1971
1971
Colored pencil on paper
The Morgan Library & Museum, N.Y.
https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/celia-carennac-august-1971

David Hockney
(1971) 

The Portrait of Sir David Webster is a 1971 portrait by the English artist David Hockney of the arts administrator David Webster. It was commissioned to mark Webster's retirement as the General Administrator of the Royal Opera House in London. The portrait hung for several decades in the opera house. 
In 2020 it was put up by the Royal Opera House for auction at Christie's due to a decline in their income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. It sold for £12.8 million against a presale estimate of £11–18 million. It is currently in the National Portrait Gallery on long-term loan from a private collection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Sir_David_Webster

Portrait of Sir David Webster 
1971
Acrylic on canvas
152.8 x 184.5cm

Private collection, currently in the National Portrait Gallery on long-term loan.

 David Hockney
(1976)  
 

The Blue Guitar is a suite of twenty etchings with aquatint by David Hockney, drawn in 1976–77 and published in 1977 in London and New York by Petersburg Press. 

The frontispiece to the portfolio mentions Hockney's dual inspirations: 

"The Blue — Guitar — Etchings by — David Hockney — who was inspired — by — Wallace Stevens — who was inspired — by — Pablo Picasso"

In 1976 Henry Geldzahler introduced Hockney to Wallace Stevens' 1937 poem, The Man with the Blue Guitar, which used Picasso's Blue period painting The Old Guitarist (1903–04) as its central theme. Hockney produced a number of drawings in response to the poem, which highlights the problem of the imagination's role in interpreting reality, and produced a set of coloured etchings using the method devised by Aldo Crommelynck for Picasso to make colour prints. Hockney said his illustrations "like the poem, they are about transformations within art as well as the relation between reality and the imagination, so these are pictures within pictures and different styles of representation juxtaposed and reflected and dissolved within the same frame. Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) began writing poetry in his 40s, and, while never a popular poet, is counted one of North America's most influential poets of the 20th century."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Guitar

The Blue Guitar series
1976-77
Etchings with aquatint
Plate: 42.5 x 34.5 cm Print: 53 x 46 cm
14 public collections worldwide
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/portfolios/69121