David Hockney, iconic British artist known for his colorful landscapes and pool scenes, dies at 88

By — Jill Lawless, Associated Press Jill Lawless, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/david-hockney-iconic-british-artist-known-for-his-colorful-landscapes-and-pool-scenes-dies-at-88 Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter David Hockney, iconic British artist known for his colorful landscapes and pool scenes, dies at 88 World Jun 12, 2026 12:15 PM EDT LONDON (AP) — David Hockney, a treasured British artist whose paintings of shimmering pools and colorful iPad drawings became icons of contemporary art, has died, his publicist said Friday. He was 88. Over a seven-decade career, Hockney explored and reimagined classical portraiture, landscape painting and pop art, working in painting, collage, photography and digital drawing. Hockney was born in the north of England but lived much of his life in Southern California, making its sun-drenched suburban views a major motif. WATCH: David Hockney thinks you should take a longer look at life Later in life he returned to Europe, finding renewed inspiration in the wooded hills of his native county of Yorkshire and the fields and trees of France's Normandy region. One of the most popular and critically lauded British artists of his generation, his works sold for record prices at auction. Historian Simon Schama said it's no mystery why his work is so enduringly appealing. "His work is admired — loved is not too strong a word — by the millions who, worldwide, flock to see it because it presupposes an expectation of pleasure," Schama wrote in an essay accompanying a 2025 Hockney exhibition in Paris. WATCH: Art exhibit 'For Dear Life' shows new perspectives on disability and medicine in the U.S. Hockney's publicist, Erica Bolton, said he died at his home in London on Thursday, less than a month short of his 89th birthday. She did not give a cause of death. He is survived by his longtime partner Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima; his great-nephew and studio assistant, Richard Hockney; his brothers Philip and John; and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. Hockney was an icon of the swinging 60s With his trademark round glasses and bleached-blond hair, Hockney was a well-known figure in the swinging British and American art scenes of the 1960s, even before he reached the age of 30. His paintings were just as distinctive, many of them creating a dreamlike world of patterned light bouncing off water and windows, and human forms rendered in flattened, simplified shapes in matte acrylic paint. "I'm excited every day," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1979. "London has lots of dreary parts but I never find anything dreary in Los Angeles." WATCH: David Hockney continues prodigious picture-making career by adopting new tech Hockney was born July 9, 1937, in Bradford, a large industrial city whose chief export was woolen textiles. He spent his first two decades there before going to London's Royal College of Art. H