The esteemed British artist David Hockney will present his largest exhibition to date at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, showcasing over 400 works from April 9th to September 1st. The works will span exactly seven decades, from 1955 to 2025.
The exhibition, titled “David Hockney, 25,” will occupy 11 rooms of the museums, displaying pieces from international institutions and private collections alongside works straight from Hockney’s studio. It will encompass a broad range of mediums, including oil and acrylic paintings, digital art, and immersive video installations.
The exhibition is especially focussed on the last 25 years, during which Hockney has spent time in Normandy, London, and Yorkshire. Highlights include the vibrant May Blossom on the Roman Road (2009) and the striking Bigger Trees near Warter or/ou Peinture sur le Motif pour le Nouvel Age Post-Photographique (2007), the latter of which will be loaned from the Tate.
The exhibition will open with a selection of Hockney’s early works level with the museum’s famous pond. These include works such as A Bigger Splash (1967) and Portrait of An Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972). In November 2018, Portrait of An Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million at Christie’s in New York, becoming the most expensive work by a living artist at the time.
Elsewhere, the exhibition will present a series of 60 portraits of friends and family. Some of the works are painted with acrylic, whereas others were made on his iPad, including his “portraits of flowers” series. The digital flower paintings were the subject of a solo exhibition at Pace Gallery in January 2023. The works are created on the artist’s iPad but displayed in traditional frames.
On the first floor, the museum is presenting Hockney’s landscapes of Normandy, namely his “220 for 2020” series. These works were also created on his iPad. Meanwhile, Hockney’s latest works—all created since moving to London in 2023—will be displayed in an intimate gallery space. According to the museum, the works are inspired by Edvard Munch and William Blake.
The top floor will feature The Great Wall (2000), a timeline-esque installation featuring reproductions of works spanning from the early Renaissance to the modern-day.
Now 87, Hockney continues to paint at his studio in Normandy, both using traditional media and digital tools. On January 29th, the artist will present “20 Flowers for 2025 and Some Bigger Pictures” at Salts Mill in West Yorkshire, U.K.
