A sprawling exhibition dedicated to one of the most legendary living artists, David Hockney, is set to open at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris this spring. With over 400 works dating from 1955 until the present day, among the highlights will be two new works inspired by the artists Edvard Munch and William Blake.
“This exhibition means an enormous amount because it is the largest exhibition I’ve ever had,” said Hockney in a press statement, noting that his works will fill 11 galleries at the foundation. “I think it’s going to be very good.”
The artist and his partner, Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, have been personally involved in organizing “David Hockney 25,” which runs from April 9 through September 1, 2025. As we have come to expect of the British painter, whose exploratory approach to medium has readily evolved with the times, the show will include a wide variety of media from pencil and charcoal drawings to digital compositions worked on an iPad and even immersive installations.
David Hockney, Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy (1968). Photo: Fabrice Gibert, © David Hockney.
Hockney’s lengthy career has taken him from his native city of Bradford in Yorkshire to London, Paris, Los Angeles, and, more recently, a peaceful farmhouse in Normandy. The 87-year-old artist has now resettled in London and is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, some of the works going into the show won’t even feature in the catalogue because they are still in the works.
With his trademark vibrant palette, imbuing his compositions with an eye-catching, hallucinatory quality, the artist has embarked on a new series of paintings that pay homage to some of the historical greats. On view will be (2023) and (2024), both works that take an impressively expansive view of our world today and realms that lie far beyond, invoking history, our future, and astronomy. In , the three graces hold up the world while an ancient philosopher meets our gaze.
David Hockney, After Blake: Less is Known that People Think (2024). Photo: Jonathan Wilkinson, © David Hockney.
Yet, these ambiguous pieces are, ultimately, humble observations about human naivety. Their titles were inspired by a headline Hockney saw in the around 2000 that read: “Less is known than people think.”
“I thought it was a gem, of course they don’t know much!” explained Hockney in the book by Martin Gayford. “Nobody knows anything.”
The acrylic painting was inspired by , one of the 18th century English poet and artist William Blake‘s interpretations of Dante’s . The marvels of 14th and 15th century Florence have clearly captured Hockney’s imagination for many decades, since the show will include a little known work from the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. It was painted in 1960s, just after Hockney graduated from the Royal College of Art.
David Hockney, 27th March 2020, No. 1 iPad painting printed on paper. Photo: © David Hockney.
Hockney has long introduced art historical references into his work, as will be obvious on the exhibition’s top floor. There will hang (2000), a collage of reproductions of some of the artist’s all-time favorite artworks from the early Renaissance onwards. Other nods to Hockney’s inspirations will come in the form of an installation that reimagines the artist’s studio as a dance hall, a reference to the regular musical performances he stages at his own home, and new reinterpretations of opera set designs originally made by Hockney in the 1970s.
Fans of Hockney’s quintessential subjects—swimming pools, interiors, characterful landscapes, and sensitive portraits of friends, family, or fellow artists—will find plenty of these classics on view. These include (1955), (1968), (1972), and (1998). The more recent Normandy landscapes, many of which were completed during lockdown, will also fill two galleries on the foundation’s 1st floor.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
