David Hockney, the revolutionary British painter, has died. He was 88.
The artist’s publicist confirmed his death in a statement to BBC News on Friday. It read: “The celebrated British artist David Hockney, one of the most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries, passed away peacefully at home on 11 June 2026, one month short of his 89th birthday.”
A cause of death was not immediately made available. He is survived by his partner, Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima.
Hockney was indeed one of the most influential figures in the art world, working across paint, photographs, and lithographs. He made a name for himself through the ’60s and ’70s, his trademark swimming pool portraits making him a superstar in Los Angeles, where Hockney would purchase a home in 1964. He was undaunted by modern media and in recent years, even took his talent to the iPad.
In 2018, one of his 1972 swimming pool paintings, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) — a rich piece with popping greens and blues — sold for nearly £70 million ($94m) at a New York City auction, a record at the time for a living artist.
The Yorkshireman was raised in Bradford and educated at Wellington Primary School before honing his artistic gift at London’s Royal College of Art. There, Hockney was featured in the exhibition New Contemporaries, marking the arrival of British pop art, and his early display of expressionism would draw comparisons to Francis Bacon.
More to come…
