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He was the ultimate synthesis
David Hockney didn’t just appear out of nowhere as some kind of well-crafted art. His work was a combination of many things that had come before and what was happening around him. He took the ideas of minimalism and abstraction, combined them with the traditions of painting, and filtered everything through the new pop and ideas that were happening in the 1960s. He owed a lot to many other artists, but he made all those influences into something simple, fast, easy to eat and accessible so that it became new.
He was a hero in action
Working-class boys in Bradford did not go to art school. It was not just a done thing. This was for other people. But Hockney was born to confound expectations. He told the Guardian in 2015: “When I went to art school, a neighbor said, ‘Some people in art school don’t work at all. And I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to work, don’t worry.'” And he did, continuously, continuously, until the very end.
He changed the way we see things
Hockney saw traditional thinking – with all the lines leading to one point of error – not only limiting and boring, but impossible. We don’t see the world as static and fixed, he thought, our vision is dynamic, constantly changing. His backward thinking was his answer: he moved the disturbed area, placed it behind the viewer, or divided it into several parts. The results are sometimes confusing, strange and disturbing, but very close to the truth of how we see the world.
He bridged the gap between drawing and painting
Photography was central to Hockney’s practice for many years. In recent years, he has included photographs directly in his paintings, but his best work with the medium was his collages, where he took several pictures of the same object from several angles (usually with a Polaroid), creating a kaleidoscopic vision of the world around him. The paintings influenced the way he painted, and the way he painted influenced his painting. The two fortune tellers, in the end, almost became the same thing.
He made the place a memory
Yorkshire became Hockney’s muse in the mid-2000s, and he returned time and time again to the hills around Bridlington. In 2007, the forest in Woldgate inspired him to push the concept of landscape to the extreme – he wanted to paint the countryside on a scale that was reserved for the main, most important subjects of art: history, biblical events, the liberation of the world. The result was a huge, innovative, high-stakes effort to elevate each day to the highest level possible.
He was an expert in technology
He wasn’t shy about adopting new technology, and in his later years he moved to the iPad and left it at that. Drawing directly using a digital pen or his finger allowed him to be quick and precise. Many critics hate the works of the iPad, criticizing the “loss of the artist’s hand” or describing them as “useless distractions”, but the strange thing is that even in this new, digital, strange way, his works are recognized immediately. It doesn’t matter if it’s an iPad – it looks like Hockney.
He explained how we see Los Angeles
It took a boy from West Yorkshire to embrace the sun-soaked beauty of Los Angeles. Hockney moved to California in 1964, and spent the next few decades creating a hyper-stylized, ultra-cool vision of life among the palm trees, pools and PoMo architecture of Hollywood and its surroundings. When we think about LA and what it looks like, we see it through Hockney’s lens.
His pictures made the stars look like people
Images were at the heart of Hockney’s art from the beginning. His pictures of his mother are tender and loving, his pictures of lovers are intimate and sweet. It didn’t matter if he was filming Rothschild or his cousin, a pop star or a studio assistant, he treated everyone with the same kindness. In the end, some of the pictures became more colorful and colorful, but what he did not lose was his ability to show all his love for painting, and those who live.
He was a regular pioneer
Abstract art has become a trend in major museums in the early 2020s, and Hockney is not far behind. He took over London’s Lightroom and Bigger & Closer (not smaller & beyond) in 2025, part autobiographical documentary, part-digital art exhibition. As with Polaroids and iPads, Hockney saw the potential of new technology to change the way we see, and to change the way viewers approach art.
He embraced theater and opera
Hockney’s simple, bold, and elegant style of painting was very well done. He created the play Ubu Roi at London’s Royal Court theater in 1966, and he returned to theater and opera designs repeatedly throughout his career, working on the productions of Tristan und Isolde, Turandot and The Magic Flute among many others, all filled with his paintings that came to life, his distinctive signature and brought the audience’s attention.
He celebrated his horns
Hockney’s early paintings were full of animalistic, graphic images: giant phalluses, chaotically joined bodies. It was very expensive, and it was a brave thing for a young gay artist to do in the 1960s, even in London. Hockney’s sexuality was always central to his work, and this helped pave the way for many other artists who were sexually active to feel free to express themselves.
