David Hockney, one of the most celebrated and influential British artists of modern times, has died aged 88.
He died peacefully at home on June 11, his publicist Erica Bolton said.
A statement to the Press Association said: “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.”
It added: “David Hockney’s enduring legacy reflects his underlying enthusiasm for life, his outstanding sense of humour, his immense generosity, and his investigative curiosity encapsulated by his signature phrase, Love Life.
“Details of memorials will follow in due course.”
Hockney’s celebrated career spanned seven decades, and his most famous paintings included The Splash, A Bigger Splash, Portrait Of An Artist (Pool With Two Figures), My Parents and Mr And Mrs Clark And Percy.
He was lauded for his use of different formats, embracing digital art and the use of iPads as much as traditional painting.
He was a committed life-long and defiant smoker and campaigned against anti-smoking laws, calling them “mean-spirited”. He smoked until the end of his life.
In 2018 he told the Press Association: “I always say in the studio I don’t feel old, I just feel 30. I do still feel 30 in my studio, that is why I stay there most of the time.
“When I was young of course you think you’re immortal, that is why the young smoke, they think they’re immortal. They always will.”
He is survived by his long-time partner and companion Jean-Pierre Goncalves de Lima; his great-nephew Richard, who acted as studio assistant in his last years; his brothers Philip and John; and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, Ms Bolton said.
Hockney embraced printmaking, set design, and photography to evolving media including photocopier and fax machines, computer, iPhone and iPad drawing, and stained glass.
He trained at the Bradford School of Art in the 1950s, followed by the Royal College of Art in London, where he graduated with gold medal distinction in 1962 and subsequently emerged as one of the seminal talents in the new generation of British artists.
However, he was almost denied his RCA diploma because he did not complete an essay, an act of rebellion as he felt he should be judged solely on his art.
He spoiled his paper with a sketch of a diploma in protest.
When the decision was reversed, Hockney was awarded a gold medal which he is said to have accepted while wearing a gold lame jacket and carrying a gold-coloured shopping bag.
He created a group of paintings, which he later described as “homosexual propaganda”, portraying gay relationships and was open about his sexuality when homosexuality was still illegal.
Some of his most famous paintings came from his move to Los Angeles, when he began to document the southern California lifestyle.
In his 70s he returned to Yorkshire, where he produced a stunning series of landscapes capturing the changing seasons, but he continued to spend much of his life in the US.
The iPhone and iPad became central to Hockney’s practice from 2007 onwards, resulting in the vast series The Arrival Of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire, in 2011.
In 2017, he was invited by the Dean of Westminster Abbey to produce the stained-glass Queen’s Window in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, which was unveiled in October 2018.
He was appointed by the late Queen to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1997 and to the Order of Merit in 2012.
In 2026, Hockney became one of the few non-French citizens to be awarded the rank of officer in France’s prestigious Legion d’Honneur.
Many of his most beloved works were shown at Tate Britain in 2017, which became the gallery’s most popular exhibition to date, pulling in almost half a million visitors.
It travelled to the Pompidou Centre in Paris and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
