Cheeky grin on his face, a cigarette never far from his mouth, proud Yorkshireman David Hockney may have been in bad health recently but you would never know it. The 87-year-old, arguably Britain’s greatest living painter, gave the BBC an interview to mark a huge new show in Paris.
Hockney says: “I don’t care how many come, it’s what I think that counts and I’m very, very pleased with it.” Based around his last 25 years of painting it includes more than 450 works as well as some of his most famous works from earlier in his career.
For his part Hockney wasn’t sure he would be around to see it unveiled. He now has two full-time carers, who have accompanied him to Paris from London, where he now lives. But nothing will stop him enjoying the big love of his life which is smoking.
After looking around the show, Hockney says: “I think it’s terrific myself. I am nearly 88 years old, so it should be. I mean, they came to me about two years ago. I started planning it, but I just thought I probably wouldn’t be here. I was 86 and I’m still a smoker, a happy smoker, fed up of bossy people telling you what to do.”
Born in 1937 and one of five children, Hockney sold his first painting of his father for £10 in 1957 after leaving school and studying at the Royal College of Art. He knew he wanted to be an artist from the age of 11 and had dedicated himself to improving his drawing skills at art school, although he clashed with some of the posher students.
“I used to go to the art school from nine in the morning to nine at night and that’s where I learn to draw. People would mock my accent…I’d look at their artworks and I’d think, well, if I drew like that, I’d keep my mouth shut!” He says looking back on his youth.
But what would the young boy growing up in Bradford think about the life he’d go on to have and the work he’d create?
“He’d have thought it was pretty daft. I just go on because I’ve always really ignored the money. I want to work every day, and I do, but there’s not, perhaps that many people would do that. I’ve always thought I was rich.”
In November 2018, Hockney’s 1972 work Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold at Christie’s auction house in New York City for $90 million (£70 million), becoming the most expensive artwork by a living artist sold at auction at the time.
Over the years he has experimented with painting, drawing, printmaking, watercolours, photography, collage and many other media including a fax machine and more recently drawings on an iPhone and iPad.
HIs great nephew Richard, who has sat for him many times for portraits, says the new exhibition has boosted the artist. “I think this will keep him going for a long, long time, to be honest,” he said.
“He’s still full of life, he has still got the light in his eyes and I think the painting keeps him alive. As long as he can paint, he’s fine.”
Speaking in 2023 to Sky Arts, Hockney had vowed a decline in health would not stop him working. At the time he said: “All I need is the hand, the eye and the heart. I don’t even need feet or legs! Haha. All you need is the hand, the eye and the heart. I think that’s true for all art. I mean I walk slower, I have a bit of difficulty moving around. But that’s not affecting my hand, my eye and my heart.”
* David Hockney 25 is at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, from 9 April until 31 August. You can watch the full interview on BBC iPlayer.
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