Opening at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris on 9 April, David Hockney, 25 will bring together more than 400 of the celebrated artist’s works for an exhibition described as ‘exceptional in its scale and its originality’.
Presenting paintings from international, institutional and private collections, as well as works from the artist’s own studio and Foundation, the exhibition will take over the entire building and it will feature works in a variety of media including oil and acrylic painting, ink, pencil and charcoal drawing, digital art (works on iPhone, iPad, photographic drawings) and immersive video installations.
David Hockney has been personally involved in every aspect of the exhibition and has, together with his partner and studio manager Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, chosen to focus particularly on the past 25 years whilst also including iconic early works. Hockney is recognised as one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries and this exhibition sets out to show how he has continually renewed both his subjects and his mode of expression over this period.
The exhibition opens with a selection of emblematic works from the 1950s to the 1970s – including Hockney’s beginnings in Bradford (Portrait of My Father, 1955), his time in London and then California. The swimming pool – a signature theme for the artist – appears in A Bigger Splash, 1967 and Portrait of An Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1972.
His series of double portraits is represented by two major works: Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, 1970-1971 and Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, 1968.
The exhibition explores how nature becomes increasingly important in David Hockney’s work in the decade 1980 to 1990 – as illustrated by A Bigger Grand Canyon, 1998 and also in a series of acrylic paintings featuring a highly singular treatment of the sky – and then considers how Hockney’s painting draws on global art-historical references dating from antiquity to the present day.
Passionate about opera, David Hockney has been eager to reinterpret the set designs he has been creating since the 1970s and in a new polyphonic creation, in conjunction with 59 Studio, visitors will be immersed in this musical and visual piece inside the Fondation’s most monumental exhibition space.
The final room of the exhibition will unveil David Hockney’s most recent works, painted in London, where the artist has been residing since July 2023. These particularly enigmatic paintings are inspired by Edvard Munch and William Blake: After Munch: Less is Known than People Think, 2023, and After Blake: Less is Known than People Think, 2024, in which astronomy, history and geography cross paths with spirituality, according to the artist who has also chosen to show his latest self-portrait in this final room.
David Hockney said: “This exhibition means an enormous amount because it is the largest exhibition I’ve ever had – 11 rooms in the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Some of the most recent paintings I’m working on now will be included in it, and I think it’s going to be very good.”
For further information: fondationlouisvuitton.fr
Image: David Hockney, “27th March 2020, No. 1”, iPad painting printed on paper, mounted on 5 panels
Exhibition Proof 2
364.09 x 521.4 cm (143.343 x 205.276 Inches)
© David Hockney
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