David Hockney, the painter of California light and record-breaking pools, dies at 88 as King Charles mourns 'a giant of the art world'

A peaceful passing and royal tribute

David Hockney died peacefully at his London home on Thursday, 11 June 2026, one month shy of his 89th birthday. The news was confirmed on Friday by his public relations representative, Erica Bolton, who described him as "one of the most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries."

King Charles III posted a personal tribute, calling Hockney a "giant of the art and painting world" and a "truly unique" man.

“He wore his genius with the same lightness as his beloved yellow Crocs that lit up receptions at the Palace.”

The monarch added he was "very saddened" by the loss.

The Bradford boy who chased California light

Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, on 9 July 1937, Hockney was the fourth of five children of a radical working-class family. His father was an accountant, his mother a devout Methodist. Studying at the Royal College of Art in London, he rose to prominence in the British pop art scene, mingling with figures like Mick Jagger and Rudolf Nureyev.

A childhood fascination with the strong shadows in Laurel and Hardy films convinced him that somewhere existed a place of perpetual sunshine, and in 1964 he moved to Los Angeles. "The strong shadows meant lots of sun," he told the BBC in 2009. California's light and suburban pools became his signature motifs.

A record-breaking auction and ceaseless invention

In 2018, his painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million at auction — at the time the highest sum ever paid for a work by a living artist. Over seven decades Hockney worked in acrylics, watercolours, photo collages, etchings, and digital tools, becoming one of the first major artists to embrace iPad drawing and immersive installations.

He never stopped creating. Even in his later years, when mobility reduced him to a wheelchair, he continued painting daily in his London studio.

“You don't retire doing this. You just go on until you drop.”

An openly gay artist who made intimacy visible

Long before same-sex partnerships gained institutional recognition, Hockney depicted desire, tenderness, and domesticity between men without euphemism or apology. Works such as Domestic Scene, Los Angeles (1963) and Cleaning Teeth, Early Evening (1962) were painted at a time when homosexuality was still criminalised in Britain. He lived and worked openly, making his sexual identity a subject of his art with calm humanity.