David Hockney, painter of California pool scenes, dies at 88

artJun 13, 202612612,642

David Hockney died at 88, his publicist said he "passed away peacefully" at his London home on Thursday, about one month before his 89th birthday. Hockney became famous for sun-drenched Los Angeles paintings and pool scenes, notably Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972) and Large Interior, Los Angeles, which helped define the look of 1960s California. His Portrait of an Artist sold for $90.3 million in 2018, a record for a living artist, and his career also embraced photo collages, iPad drawings, and large Yorkshire panoramas such as Garrowby Hill. Hockney's bold color, technical experimentation, and frank depictions of queer intimacy reshaped late 20th-century painting and left a lasting influence on museums, collectors, and contemporary artists.

Ciapamia

@ciapamia.bsky.social

Joni Mitchell and David Hockney at the L.A. Louver gallery in Los Angeles, Photo Credit Jacob Sousa, via L.A. Louver, Venice, CA, February 13, 2019.

550145d ago

phoenixrising

@mmcarthur.bsky.social

David Hockney : Large Interior, Los Angeles, 1988 Oil and Ink on cut and pasted Paper on Canvas 183.5 × 305.4 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art

159145d ago

Elizabeth Cooke3

Use of colour just SINGS

Usman-Smith2

Tha' swimming pools empty T'were an image o'simplicity Bradford then fame a'plenty That there London & tha' city It pulled tha' northern soul Into rich circles wi' pop art L.A ta' Bridlington fill tha' hole Watercolours & back ta' tha' start Simply complex just like life Old masters obscura revealed

Dawn2

I love his use of bright colors.

Wallace Polsom

@wallacepolsom.bsky.social

David Hockney (1937-2026), “My Parents” (1977), oil on canvas, 182.9 x 182.9 cm.

144244d ago

Lindsay

@lindsayhere.bsky.social

Remembering David Hockney (1937–2026) "Garrowby Hill" (1998), oil on canvas

59645d ago

Alice Roberts

@profaliceroberts.bsky.social

Goodbye David Hockney. What a legend. His paintings blew my mind when I was a teenager, studying art. And they still do. Human creativity is amazing and he took it to an apogee.

46045d ago

Stevie T4

I worked for over 20 years at Salts Mill in Saltaire on the floor above his gallery. I visited his gallery on numerous occasions and every time his paintings lifted my mood. What a talent!

David 'Carajo' Forest 🇺🇦4

Salts Mill in Bradford is well worth a visit if you are a fan of Hockneys work.

Lisa Thornton

@thorntonforreal.bsky.social

In honor of David Hockney, RIP, the most David Hockney picture I’ve ever made

A paved road stretching into the distance with a green field on either side and a small tree on the left

40145d ago

Des

@desdelboy.bsky.social

Painting by David Hockney. ‘Two Deckchairs, Calvi’ 1972. Acrylic on Canvas. Size 153 x 122 cm.

35445d ago

Stu Cambo2

Colours in his work are all amazing

Michael Lobel

@mlobelart.bsky.social

A friend sent an image from Europe of a remarkable Hockney painting I had never seen before: David Hockney, "Still Life on a Glass Table," 1971

Painting of still life objects on a long, low glass table, including a lamp and vase of tulips

16844d ago

Financial Times

@financialtimes.com

Free to read: Simon Schama's 2025 appreciation of David Hockney, who has died at the age of 88 ft.trib.al/VJxZ4Sv

7744d ago

Musicology Duck

@musicologyduck.bsky.social

i can't really tell the whole story on here, but once I was trying to solve a problem with David Hockney's assistant and the issue got escalated to my supervisors and one of them just wrote back: I KNOW WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING AT IT: HOCKNEY

11444d ago

PBS News

@pbsnews.org

British artist and painter David Hockney, one of the most celebrated art icons of the 20th and 21st centuries, died at the age of 88. https://to.pbs.org/4uAuSbJ

10445d ago

The Guardian

@theguardian.com

‘He outlived four of his doctors’: David Hockney’s lifelong love of smoking – and the 2,000 cigarettes he kept at home ‘for emergencies’

8945d ago

WildAsparagus14

Seriously? Of all the things you could focus on in relation to his life "smoking isn't bad" should be bottom of the list.

Ed Davie9

A wonderful artist - what a pity that instead of focusing on his creativity and contribution you choose to advertise cigarettes which kill millions, even if Hockney wasn’t one of them

Johnny Jay6

‘He outlived four of his doctors’........ Hey, I've outlived many more than that. Most people do if they live to an average life expectancy.

Joe Jinis 🗽4

And would have lived probably 20 years longer if he didn't smoke :)

Tony4

why was this necessary to print? did you get what you wanted? (money from the tobacco industry)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN VIEWS2

Yeah, but I bet he did not smell very good.

Adam Kucharski

@adamjkucharski.bsky.social

David Hockney (1937-2026): “The world is very very beautiful if you look at it, but most people don’t look very much”

6145d ago

ΜΑΝΟΣ ΤΡΑΧΙΑΣ™

@trahias.bsky.social

David Hockney (British, 1937-2026) "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)," 1972 Acrylic on canvas 2.1 m x 3 m | 7 ft x 10 ft #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

8445d ago

Farrukh

@implausibleblog.bsky.social

BBC Newsnight dig up two interviews from their archive with David Hockney, RIP 🙏 The second one in 2015 in which he says, "I'm going to die soon. Who's to know how"

7445d ago

3 sources

latimes.comDavid Hockney, whose art celebrated sun-drenched Los Angeles, dead at 88 yahoo.comDavid Hockney helped define the look of modern California. Here's the story behind his record-breaking painting.artnews.comDavid Hockney, Painter Who Captured the Sensibility of ’60s Los Angeles, Is Dead at 88

David Hockney, painter of California pool scenes, dies at 88art

David Hockney, painter of California pool scenes, dies at 88

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