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Unlocking A Life in Color, and A Career in Motion
Before we arrive in the Paris show, let's take a step back and think about just who David Hockney is—and why his paintings are still running strong in 2025.
Hockney was born in Bradford, England, in 1937. He burst onto the art scene in Britain in the 1960s and soon was one of the most influential and recognizable painters of the era. Painter, draftsman, printer, photographer, and latterly digital artist, Hockney's life has never been tidily contained.His early paintings had blunt lines and direct proclamations of queer existence when others were afraid to even do that. His later Yorkshire landscapes extended the limits of color, size, and emotional presence, and his earlier California pool scenes became iconic for their sun-baked stillness.
He never had been satisfied with one medium, one style, one period. Canvas painting or iPad drawing, Hockney's paintings are an entire passion for the business of seeing—how we perceive light, movement, space, emotion. At 87, he's as spry and saucy as ever, a bodily visual artist whose impact still echoes across generations.
The Retrospective
There’s something rare about standing in front of a piece of art that feels both instantly familiar and freshly unfamiliar. That’s exactly what’s happening right now at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, where a massive retrospective of David Hockney’s work is pulling viewers into seven decades of artistic evolution—almost 400 works deep. It’s not just a career survey; it’s a full-body immersion into the world of an artist who has spent his entire life reinventing how we see.
I’ve always believed that the greats don’t repeat themselves—they refine. And Hockney, now 87, isn’t coasting on poolside nostalgia. This Paris exhibition proves that he’s still experimenting, still pushing, still curious. And in a moment when a lot of art institutions are focused on spectacle, this show reminds us that craft, color, and clarity still matter.
A Walk Through Decades That Don’t Stand Still
This exhibition doesn’t read like a museum checklist. It feels more like a living archive—personal, nonlinear, and alive with color. There are early portraits from the 1950s, sun-splashed California pool scenes from the '60s and '70s, and those vivid Yorkshire landscapes that burst with greens, purples, and impossible light. Each room tells a different story, but the thread is unmistakably Hockney: a restless search for visual truth.
One thing that really stands out is how physical the work feels. Even in the digital pieces—like the enormous Normandy iPad drawings—there’s texture, warmth, and humanity. You can feel the artist's hand in everything, even when that hand is drawing with a stylus instead of a brush.There’s no detachment here. Hockney invites you in.
And that invitation matters. Because when you see all these pieces together, what emerges isn’t just the arc of a career—it’s the shape of a mind.
The Colors Speak Louder Here
Let’s talk about the color for a second. Hockney doesn’t just use color—he commits to it. In this show, the walls are painted in vivid hues that complement the work, rejecting the sterile white-box approach. And honestly? It’s refreshing. The bold pinks, yellows, and sky blues don’t distract—they heighten. They echo the energy of the work itself.
When you stand in a room filled with his iPad drawings of springtime in Normandy, you realize this isn’t about digital gimmickry. It’s about immediacy. These are field studies in full bloom. He’s chasing the moment before it vanishes—and giving it back to us in full color.
No Nostalgia Here
It’s tempting to treat a retrospective like a greatest hits album. But what I appreciate most about this exhibition is that it avoids that trap. Yes, the classics are here—A Bigger Splash, Portrait of anArtist—but they don’t steal the show. Instead, they act like punctuation marks in a longer, more nuanced story. The newer works—many of which were created in the past few years—hold their own and then some.
Hockney isn’t painting memories. He’s painting now. That urgency, that pulse of present-tense creativity, is what elevates this show. It’s not about legacy. It’s about ongoing discovery.
A Must-See, Not Just for Art Lovers
You don’t have to be a Hockney aficionado to be moved by this exhibition. You just need to be someone who’s curious about how a person can keep growing, keep making, keep seeing. For creatives, it’s a masterclass in reinvention. For anyone else, it’s a chance to feel something real in a world that often feels flat and filtered.
And let’s be real: very few artists working today command this kind of cross-generational respect. Hockney has somehow managed to speak to both purists and progressives. His work bridges eras, continents, and technologies—and yet it remains unmistakably his.
Final Thought
If this show proves anything, it’s that David Hockney is still in the middle of the sentence. This retrospective doesn’t feel like an ending—it feels like a comma. A pause before whatever comes next.
So, if you find yourself in Paris between now and the end of August, go. See it for yourself. Walk through the colors. Let the work wash over you. Because there’s something powerful about seeing one artist’s entire life distilled into shape, form, and hue—and realizing that the best artists don’t settle. They stay awake.
“David Hockney: A Year in Normandie” runs through August31, 2025, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. Advance tickets are highly recommended.
