Revered British artist David Hockney has died at the age of 88, passing away “peacefully” at his longtime London home, where he continued to paint until his death.
Hockney, who was born into what he described as a “radical working-class family” in the Yorkshire town of Bradford, has been hailed as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, having risen to fame in the 1960s with his pop art-style depictions of California living that are said to have helped “define the Los Angeles aesthetic,” according to The Guardian.
But the artist’s connection to the Golden State extended far beyond his works of art.
Hockney, who came out as gay at the age of 23, first traveled to the U.S. the following year, in 1961, when he visited New York City, a trip that would spark his decadeslong love affair with America—a place where he felt his sexuality was far less repressed than in the U.K., where homosexual acts between men remained illegal until 1967.
That trip to New York is said to have been a source of great inspiration for Hockney, who would return to the city multiple times over the following years, before traveling to Los Angeles for the first time in 1963, when he began what was arguably the most iconic era of his storied career.
Hockney quickly fell in love with the California lifestyle—which would define the early years of his rise to fame, when he became best known for his colorful depictions of swimming pools in Los Angeles, a series that identified him “as the quintessential artist of Southern California’s nouveau riche leisure life,” The New York Times notes.
Even as his art evolved and his subjects changed, Hockney remained enamored with Los Angeles, where he spent time teaching at the teaching at UCLA, and later purchased two dwellings—a Malibu beach house on the Pacific Coast Highway that he sold in 1999 for $1.5 million, and a humble ranch-style home in the Hollywood Hills, which he still owned when he died.
That hillside property, which Hockney purchased for just $181,500 in 1981, would, in many ways, become a living representation of his artistic style as he steadily transformed the humble, brown abode into a vibrant, colorful paradise, adding his own art studio, where he would produce some of his best-known works from the last four decades.
In 1983, he sat down with Architectural Digest at the property, describing it as a place that “everyone likes,” despite acknowledging that his colorful aesthetic went against the neutral trend of the time.
“Everyone who comes here likes it. People don’t dare such colors usually,” he said.
The artist steadily eradicated all traces of the home’s original drab interior and exterior, painting the railing of the balcony that runs around much of the property a vibrant blue shade, while window trims were colored with a bright yellow hue.
Hockney noted that his transformation of the property was being carried out slowly, “room by room,” as he carefully worked out the best color scheme for each space and “architectural element.”
“What I am doing, slowly, is making my own environment—room by room—as artists do. Of course it’s fun,” he added.
However, he was clear that the colors in the home were only ever meant to serve as a backdrop, an inspiration for something much more important: the energy of the people who filled it.
“It is the spirit you fill it with that is important. That spirit is in the house, but of course color helps the spirit,” he said.
The artist’s design for the home was heavily influenced by theatrical sets and costumes, particularly those he worked on for “Parade,” the Metropolitan Opera’s three-night celebration of 20th-century French works, which was held in 1981.
“The colors of the house are from ‘Parade’—in particular, from Maurice Ravel’s ‘L’Enfant et les sortilèges,’ the most beautiful musical story ever written, and the most colorful of all the operas,” Hockney revealed.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his larger than life personality, Hockney’s transformation of the home burst out of its four walls, extending to the backyard and, more specifically, the swimming pool, which he hand painted with a very unique set of marks.
The design gave the pool the same pop art-style look that Hockney depicted in his artworks, becoming a living representation of the style that defined such a significant era in his career.
“Swimming pools I always loved,” he told CNN in 2018. “I mean, all the wiggly lines they make—if you photograph them, it freezes them, whereas if you use paint, you can have wiggly lines that wiggle.”
Interestingly, when Hockney spoke to AD in 1983, he had just one picture by another artist on display in his home: Pablo Picasso‘s 1965 piece “Artist and Model.” Hockney considered Picasso a great mentor—but noted that his decision to put up only that piece was not any indication that there were not plenty of other works he admired, but rather a sign that he was struggling to get hold of other art he would like to display.
“The Picasso is my only picture,” he said. “Normally the pictures I want are not available. If they would just lend me a Piero della Francesca, a Rembrandt, a Velázquez, for a little while, it would be lovely. If you’re an artist, you’re not obsessed with objects—with things.”
In 2018, Hockney spoke with Architectural Digest again, this time opening up about how his Los Angeles home had helped his career—providing him with a sanctuary where he was able to shut out the world and any unwanted visitors, and instead focus on nothing but his art.
“I like visitors, but couldn’t really work in London or New York, because I’d have too many,” he said. “Here we know who’s coming, so we can plan it. I’ve always liked L.A. for that.”
At the time, though his work had long since moved past his “swimming pool era,” Hockney joked that he still remained a firm fan of his own pool, largely because it was the only place he was able to exercise.
Hockney had spent much of his time living in Los Angeles from the early 1980s until 2005, when he returned to the U.K., and it would be eight years before he would take up residence at his California dwelling again—when it became a place that he was able to turn during a time of great tragedy.
In 2013, soon after the artist suffered a stroke, his 23-year-old assistant, Dominic Elliott, was found dead at his home in the U.K., having consumed drain cleaner and several recreational drugs, including ecstasy and cocaine.
The loss was understood to have shattered Hockney, who returned to Los Angeles soon after and once again began living inside the home where he was able to tune out the world, pouring his emotions into his artworks, including a series of charcoal drawings that are said to have been inspired by Elliott’s death.
Hockney’s home itself would also serve as inspiration for his art, with several pieces dedicated to the vibrant interior of his longtime sanctuary.
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