Farewell to David Hockney, the artist who always made technology a creative tool

The art world loses one of its most original voices. David Hockney, a British artist considered among the leading figures in contemporary art, has died in London at the age of 88. The news was announced by his agent Erica Bolton, who reported how the painter passed away peacefully at his home, a month shy of his 89th birthday.

Born in 1937 in Bradford, Yorkshire, Hockney spanned more than seven decades of his career, constantly reinventing himself without ever losing the curiosity that made him famous. After studying at Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, where he distinguished himself for his talent, Hockney emerged in the 1960s as one of the most interesting figures in the new British art scene. His early works combined graphic elements, lettering and literary references, already showing a strong inclination toward experimentation. The turning point came in 1963, when he moved to Los Angeles. There he produced some of the most iconic images of his career: swimming pools bathed in California light, cityscapes and portraits. These works helped define Hockney’s artistic identity internationally.

But to reduce his work to the famous pools would be limiting. Hockney was a tireless explorer of the possibilities of representation. Fascinated by the way we perceive space and reality, he experimented with painting, photography, set design and digital technologies. Among the first artists to understand the creative potential of new tools, in recent years he has even usediPads, transforming them into expressive media capable of expanding traditional artistic language.

Alongside painting, the artist has also devoted great attention to theater and opera, creating sets for important international institutions such as the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the San Francisco Opera.

Throughout his long career, his works have been exhibited in the world’s most prestigious museums, from Tate Britain to the Centre Pompidou, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. David Hockney has been the recipient of numerous awards, including recognition as a Companion of Honor of the British and Commonwealth Order for his outstanding achievements in the arts in 1997. He recently received the title of Officer of the French Légion d’Honneur (2026). David Hockney’s works are part of numerous public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Portrait Gallery in London, Tate Britain in London, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

With his passing, the world loses not only a great painter, but an artist who used every new technology as a tool to observe reality.

Farewell to David Hockney, the artist who always made technology a creative tool

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