British artist David Hockney dies at 88

David Hockney, the celebrated British artist whose vibrant paintings of California swimming pools and Yorkshire landscapes became iconic images of the 20th and 21st centuries, died on Thursday, June 11, 2026. He was 88. His publicist confirmed he passed away peacefully at home, just one month before his 89th birthday.

Hockney was born in Bradford, England, on July 9, 1937. He studied at the Royal College of Art in London, where he quickly gained attention and was taken on by art dealer John Kasmin in 1961. His move to Los Angeles in 1964 proved transformative, as he became enthralled by the brilliant light and hedonistic freedoms of Southern California. His paintings from this period, often executed in vivid acrylic, created a dreamlike world of patterned light, most famously in his depictions of shimmering swimming pools. Works like "A Bigger Splash" and "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" came to define his early career. The latter sold at auction in 2018 for $90.3 million, a record at the time for a living artist.

An openly gay man, Hockney explored themes of gay love and desire in his work at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Britain. He later...