David Hockney at Home: See 26 Colorful Photographs of the Artist's Domestic Life
David Hockney, widely considered one of the most important figures in contemporary art, has died at age 88.
The artist, born in 1937 in Bradford, England, produced a singular body of work characterized by ultrasaturated colors and an innovative painterly perspective. Hockney's depictions of Californian swimming pools, which explore the reflections of water, the geometry of modern architecture, and a stylized form of everyday life, are arguably his most famous paintings. Throughout his career, the multidisciplinary artist experimented with various mediums, ranging from painting and photography to assemblages, even employing digital technologies like the iPad. Rich, varied, and influential, his creative projects span several decades of artistic innovation.
From Los Angeles and New York to London and Normandy (where Hockney camped out post-pandemic), the artist's domestic life was just as freewheeling and playful as his paintings.
The 1960s: from London to Los Angeles
In the 1960s, Hockney left Yorkshire to attend the Royal College of Art in London. As a student, he lived in “a vast room in a run-down neighborhood of Notting Hill,” as reported by House & Gardens in 1969. The now-tony West London locale was considered a destitute enclave for artists and bohemians at the time, and Hockney's flat epitomized this lifestyle. The not-yet-famous artist slept on a mattress surrounded by canvases, and his floorboards were covered in paint.
After completing his studies, Hockney moved to Los Angeles, where he drew inspiration to create his famous swimming pool paintings (including the iconic A Bigger Splash). Despite settling in SoCal permanently, he maintained ties to Europe, returning to both London and Paris regularly.
The 1970s: two homes in Hollywood
In the 1970s, Hockney rented a house in the Hollywood Hills, later buying and expanding it to accommodate his studio. Tucked away on a quiet street, AD visited the property in 2018, observing that “the placid gray of [Hockney's] outward-facing two-car garage belies the riot inside: hot pink, cobalt blue, and turquoise walls shrouded with tropical foliage… [he] truly lives inside a Hockney painting.”
During the same decade, the artist acquired a second beachfront home in Malibu. AD also visited about this colorful ranch-style property in 1983. “Like the artist, David Hockney's house is an original,” writes Constance W. Glenn. “In its audaciousness, it seems to fly in the face of conventional taste, but he reflects happily: ‘Everyone who comes here likes it. People don't dare such colors usually.’” The house wound languidly around a pool bordered by a brick wall that Hockney had initially deemed too plain—instead, he had it repainted bright red and white.
The 1980s: a love affair with dachshunds
In the 1980s, Hockney developed a deep affection for dachshunds. After adopting a pair named Stanley and Boodgie in 1987, the small dogs became his most enduring muses. Hockney produced hundreds of portraits of his faithful companions, eventually publishing an entire collection in 1998 titled David Hockney’s Dog Days. “I was painting my best friends, Stanley and Boodgie,” the artist told Myartbroker last month. “They’re like little people to me. The subject wasn’t the dogs, but my love for these little creatures.”
The 1990s: a brief return to Yorkshire
In the 1990s, Hockney began spending more time with his family in Yorkshire, England. He bought a house in the eastern coastal town of Bridlington, which he eventually sold in 2015. The artist split his time between there and his homes in Los Angeles, where he branched out into different creative projects, including photography and set design. His friend, the late art critic Henry Geldzahler, described him as a kind of workaholic during the decade: “If everyone is asleep, David paints someone sleeping. And if there’s no one around him, he draws his suitcase sitting on the floor: he works until he collapses!”
The 2020s: a bucolic life in Normandy
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Hockney spent his lockdown at Normandy farm after falling in love with the French region during a 2018 trip. His extended stay in Normandy gave rise to a series of digital works depicting the region's natural landscape, which he titled “A Year in Normandy” and exhibited as soon as museums reopened. Of course, Hockney's legacy lives on in the permanent collections of some of the most significant museums around the world. The artist never left Normandy, and shared the rest of his life there with Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, his assistant and life partner who he met two decades prior.
This photo essay on David Hockney's domestic life was originally published by AD France.