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The 15 Greatest David Hockney Paintings of All Time

By YPB Team

From iconic California pool scenes to sweeping Yorkshire landscapes and pioneering digital works, his career spans six decades of reinvention. Cast your vote for the greatest.

  1. A Bigger Splash — ranked #11
    A Bigger Splash
    Hockney's most iconic work, capturing the violent moment of a dive into a California swimming pool in vivid acrylic.
    1000pts
  2. Picture of a Hollywood Swimming Pool — ranked #22
    Picture of a Hollywood Swimming Pool
    A minimalist, line-drawn pool from 1964 — an early, pure expression of his California obsession.
    734pts
  3. The Splash — ranked #33
    The Splash
    A companion piece to A Bigger Splash, more geometric and abstract, reducing water to a single white arc.
    699pts
  4. Nichols Canyon — ranked #44
    Nichols Canyon
    A winding road through the Hollywood Hills rendered in vivid, interlocking curves of colour.
    527pts
  5. Garrowby Hill — ranked #55
    Garrowby Hill
    Rolling Yorkshire countryside painted in saturated, almost unreal color, marking his triumphant return to England.
    467pts
  6. Beverly Hills Housewife — ranked #66
    Beverly Hills Housewife
    A large-scale painting of a woman by a pool, exploring the surface glamour of California domestic life.
    467pts
  7. Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy — ranked #77
    Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy
    A serene double portrait of fashion designer Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell with their white cat, now in the Tate.
    395pts
  8. Self-Portrait with Red Braces — ranked #88
    Self-Portrait with Red Braces
    A vivid watercolour self-portrait from 2003 showing his mastery of the medium in later life.
    198pts
  9. Sunbather — ranked #99
    Sunbather
    A figure lying on a raft in a pool under the California sun, distilling leisure into flat colour and line.
    198pts
  10. Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio — ranked #1010
    Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio
    A brilliantly coloured, map-like aerial view of the famous LA road, one of his largest canvases.
    198pts
  11. Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica — ranked #1111
    Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica
    A sun-drenched road painting of the California coast stretching from beach to mountain in warm colour.
    57pts
  12. The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate — ranked #1212
    The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate
    A series of iPad-painted works depicting a Yorkshire lane erupting into spring bloom, a late-career digital masterpiece.
    1pts
  13. Pearblossom Hwy. — ranked #1313
    Pearblossom Hwy.
    A pioneering photomontage of a desert highway pieced together from hundreds of individual photographs, blurring art and photography.
    1pts
  14. My Parents — ranked #1414
    My Parents
    An intimate 1977 double portrait of his parents, considered one of the most moving figurative paintings of the 20th century.
    1pts
  15. A Bigger Grand Canyon — ranked #1515
    A Bigger Grand Canyon
    A massive 60-panel depiction of the Grand Canyon painted from photographs, stretching almost five metres wide.
    1pts

#painting3#art26#portrait38#british118

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