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| ‘He made the wild milkshake of the world a place of granular human interest’ … Hockney’s A Bigger Splash, 1967. Photograph: David Hockney |
Artists and cultural figures celebrate the great Yorkshire painter who could ‘make teabags and toothpaste glamorous’ – with a poem from a fellow YorkshiremanRachel Whiteread, artist: ‘It was like he was breathing art’
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| David Hockney, 2017 |
June 12, 2026
Almost a decade ago, ahead of his 80th birthday and a major exhibition of his works, friends and fans of David Hockney shared their perspectives on one of the world’s most popular artists in British Vogue. Following Hockney’s passing in June 2026 at the age of 88, revisit the words of some of his many admirers—from Erdem to Ian McKellen—in the February 2017 issue.
With his trademark glasses, his bleached hair and a thrillingly haphazard approach to colour, the artist’s signature style evolved and captivated decade after decade
If artist style is now a well-trodden path in fashion, there are some examples that stand out. David Hockney – with his trademark glasses, rugby shirts, trenchcoats and quirks like wearing a pair of yellow Crocs to meet King Charles in 2022 – might have been top of that list.
Ceaselessly inventive painter whose best known works were inspired by the light and colour he encountered in 1960s California
Soon after he moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, the artist David Hockney was visited by his mother. As they drove back from the airport, far from her native Bradford, she gazed about her in apparent awe at the beauties of sun-kissed southern California. Then, as Hockney was fond of recalling, she turned and said: “I don’t understand it. Such lovely drying weather and no one’s got their washing out.” Mrs Hockney thus joined Mrs Warhol and Alan Bennett’s “Mam” as working-class mothers who delighted in their son’s success without ever quite understanding it.
