David Hockney, Britain’s Most Influential Artist, Passes On
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David Hockney passed away in London on June 11, 2026
The celebrated British artist David Hockney, one of the most important figures in contemporary art in the 20th and 21st centuries, passed away on 11 June 2026, one month short of his 89th birthday.
According to a press statement released by his agency, Bolton & Quinn, David Hockney OM CH RA (b. 9 July 1937, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK – d. 11 June 2026, London) is considered one of the most influential and defining figures in contemporary art. His seven-decade career and prolific oeuvre was characterised by his multi-media approach in image making, an intellectual inquiry into the nature of depiction and perspective, and a sustained commitment to celebrating and portraying the world around him.
Hockney’s formal training began at the Bradford School of Art (1953–57), followed by the Royal College of Art in London (1959–62), where he graduated with Gold Medal distinction and subsequently emerged as one of the seminal talents in the new generation of British artists.
The 1960s marked a pivotal shift in the development of Hockney’s distinctive artistic style as he moved away from early experiments with abstract expressionism toward figuration and linear mark making, two approaches very unfashionable at the time. Following his move from London to Los Angeles in 1964, he began to document the city’s seductive charm from the perspective of an outsider. This new environment inspired his iconic renderings of the Southern Californian lifestyle, including Beverly Hills Housewife (1966) as well as his celebrated swimming pool series, most notably A Bigger Splash (1967), both widely acclaimed as canonical works. His subject matter at the time frequently explored themes of intimacy, leading to large-scale double portraits such as Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy (1968) and Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, (1971). Photography became an important preparatory tool in these works and in paintings such as Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972), though Hockney later came to feel that this approach was too reliant on photorealism. He did not use photography for portraits since.
From the late 1990s through the early 2000s, Hockney devoted a significant part of his practice to investigating the techniques and working methods of Western artists from the fifteenth century onward, with particular attention to their use of optical devices. Approaching the subject not only as a researcher but as one of the most accomplished draftsmen of his generation, Hockney brought an artist’s understanding of drawing, perspective, light, and image-making to the study of historical works. This practical knowledge enabled him to identify visual evidence that he believed had often been overlooked within conventional art-historical scholarship.
In the early 2000s, Hockney’s return to Yorkshire prompted a renewed engagement with the landscapes of his native country, portrayed in the intensive Midsummer: East Yorkshire watercolour series (2004) and ambitious, multi-canvas oil paintings, most notably Bigger Trees near Warter (2007). The emergence of digital technologies, specifically the iPhone and iPad, became central to Hockney’s practice from 2007 onward. He embraced these tools for immediacy and plein air drawing, resulting in the vast series The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011.
In 2013, he moved back to Los Angeles following personal tragedy, which triggered the start of the 82 portraits and 1 Still Life series and numerous new works.
In 2017, he was honoured to be invited by the Dean of Westminster Abbey to produce the stained-glass Queen’s Window in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, which was unveiled in October 2018.
After relocating to London in 2023, his legacy was celebrated by major international shows. Future exhibitions at Tate, London and the Munch Museum, Oslo, amongst others, are in development.
Amongst the many honours bestowed upon him over the course of his seven-decade career, he was appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1997 and to the Order of Merit in 2012. In 2026, Hockney became one of the few non-French citizens to be awarded the rank of Officier in France’s prestigious Légion d’Honneur, granted through exceptional merit and in recognition of his profound contributions to the country through his work.
Hockney was also a committed life-long and defiant smoker, expressing the pleasure in life it brought him. He campaigned against anti-smoking laws and health ‘bossiness,’ and was an avid defender of individual freedom. He smoked up to the end.
He is survived by his long-time partner and companion Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, his great-nephew Richard who acted as studio assistant in his last years, his brothers Philip and John, and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
Images courtesy: Bolton & Quinn