Overview
- David Hockney died in London on Thursday, June 11, 2026, and news of his death has prompted immediate tributes from museums, curators and colleagues across the art world.
- He built a six-decade career known for vivid color and repeated reinvention, moving from pop painting to Polaroids, video and late-career digital work made on an iPad.
- Market and institutional milestones highlighted his reach, including the 2018 Christie’s sale of Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) for $90.3 million and a 2025 Fondation Louis Vuitton retrospective that drew record attendance.
- Hockney’s art was shaped by places and relationships: he was born in Bradford, rose in London, found fame in sunlit California pool scenes, and lived in Normandy in later years, and he usually painted only people he knew.
- Museums and collectors are already marking his legacy with statements and tributes, and his death is likely to renew public and market attention to his exhibitions and late digital work.