A massive print by David Hockney is slated to headline Christie’s London spring prints season. Titled Autour de la maison, été (2019) and measuring almost 40 feet, it carries a high estimate of £300,000 ($400,000).
The work is printed on a single sheet of paper. Not only is it among Hockney’s largest prints but also one of the most ambitious works in his printmaking career. It depicts the British artist’s home and garden in Normandy at the height of summer. Trees, grass, and hedgerows frame a scene including medieval barns, a swing set, a treehouse, and parked vehicles.
James Baskerville, international head of Contemporary Edition at Christie’s, said the scale of the work transforms the experience of looking at a print. “With Autour de la maison, été, Hockney expands the possibilities of printmaking to an almost cinematic scale,” he told ARTnews. “The work invites the viewer to move through the artist’s Normandy garden as though reading a continuous pictorial frieze.”
Baskerville also pointed to the influence of the medieval Bayeux Tapestry in the print’s storytelling structure. The comparison is particularly fitting given Hockney’s later project A Year in Normandie (2020-2021), a huge iPad drawing printed on paper that extends nearly 300 feet and also unfolds as a continuous visual narrative.
The timing of the sale of Autour de la maison, été is notable. It coincides with a new exhibition of Hockney’s work opening at the Serpentine Gallery in London, not to mention the upcoming display of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. Hockey recently weighed in on the museum’s plan to bring the work to London this summer, calling it “madness” and warning that the fragile medieval embroidery could be irreparably harmed in transit.
Autour de la maison, été will feature in Christie’s online Contemporary Edition sale, which runs online from March 17 to 31. It forms part of a wider programme of two seasonal online auctions: Prints and Multiples (March 12 to 25), including works by major 19th- and 20th-century artists, and Contemporary Edition, which focuses on late-20th-century and contemporary prints alongside editions by emerging artists. Both sales will go on public view at Christie’s London from this weekend.
The demand for Hockney’s prints reflects the continued strength of the prints market at Christie’s. The auction house reported global prints sales of $70.3 million in 2025, with its EMEA department generating $31 million across Old Master, modern, and contemporary prints. Recent highlights include a record $4.1 million sale for a print by Rembrandt van Rijn and a new auction record for a print by William Blake.
