David Hockney (born July 9, 1937, Bradford, Yorkshire, England—died June 11, 2026, London) was an English painter, draftsperson, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer whose works are characterized by economy of technique, a preoccupation with light, experimentation with media, and a frank mundane realism derived from Pop art and photography. Hockney was also unusually direct in his treatment of gay desire, making it part of his subject matter before sexual acts between men were decriminalized in England in 1967.
Hockney visited the United States in 1961 and returned in 1964–67 to teach at the universities of Iowa, Colorado, and California and thereafter commuted between England and the United States until settling permanently in Los Angeles in 1978. That city’s intense glaring light and sleek “California modern” aesthetic had a pronounced influence on his work, including his images of pools, showers, and male figures in domestic or recreational settings.
Much of Hockney’s subject matter was autobiographical, including portraits and self-portraits and quiet incidental scenes of his friends, lovers, and his quarters—e.g., Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972), in which the model for the standing figure is Peter Schlesinger, Hockney’s former partner. The casual elegance and tranquil luminosity of these pieces also predominated in his still lifes. Hockney’s exploration of photography in the 1980s resulted in Pearblossom Hwy., 11–18th April 1986 and other ambitious photocollages. He published several series of graphic works in book form, including illustrations for Six Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1970) and The Blue Guitar (1977). Hockney also achieved international prominence as a stage-set designer for the ballet and opera, including a much-admired set for a 1975 production of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (1948–51) at the Glyndebourne Festival, near Lewes in southern England.
Hockney experimented with abstract landscapes during the 1990s, and upon returning to his native Yorkshire at the turn of the 21st century, he began documenting the light and changing of seasons in the English countryside in a series of landscapes. He also pursued his long-standing interest in new technologies. Among the many large-scale pieces featured in the traveling exhibition “David Hockney: A Bigger Picture” (2012–14; “David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition” at the de Young Museum in San Francisco) were several compelling drawings done on an iPad.