David Hockney at the Fondation Louis Vuitton: Seven Decades of Visual Invention
From April until August 31st, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, in Paris, France, will dedicate all of its exhibition spaces to British artist David Hockney with the showDavid Hockney, 25. The exhibition brings together more than 400 works created between 1955 and 2025, offering a comprehensive immersion into the artist’s career, with particular emphasis on the last two decades of his production. The show features oil and acrylic paintings, drawings in various media, digital creations made on iPad and iPhone, as well as video installations. The curatorial approach includes the direct involvement of the artist himself, who worked closely with his studio and the Fondation’s team in designing each room and sequence—creating an engaging and deeply personal narrative.
 LEFT: David Hockney, "Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy" 1968, Acrylic on canvas, 212.09 x 303.53 cm (83.5 x 119.5 Inches), © David Hockney, Photo Credit: Fabrice Gibert; RIGHT: Installation view of the exhibition "David Hockney 25", gallery 10, Hockney Paints the Stage, 2025, Creation by David Hockney & Lightroom, Conception 59 Productions, Installation view of the exhibition David Hockney 25, gallery 10, level 2, room Hockney paints the opera, exhibition presented from April 9 to August 31, 2025 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. © David Hockney © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage
A Monumental Retrospective
The exhibition is organized both chronologically and thematically, traversing the major creative periods of Hockney’s career. The ground floor showcases iconic works from the 1950s to the 1970s, including his celebrated series of Californian swimming pools , emblematic portraits, and landscapes that reflect his transition from London to Los Angeles. From the 1980s onward, nature takes center stage in his work, culminating in the monumental A Bigger Grand Canyon.
LEFT: David Hockney, "A Bigger Splash" 1967, acrylic n canvas, 2.5 x 243.9 x 3 cm (96 x 96 x 1.181 Inches), David Hockney,Tate, UK; RIGHT: David Hockney, ”Portrait f an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" 1972, Acrylic on canvas,213.36 x 304.8 cm (84 x 120 Inches),© David Hockney, Photo Credit: Art Gallery of New South Wales / Jenni Carter
The first floor is entirely dedicated to the artist’s most recent phase, with a focus on his digital experiments in Normandy and Yorkshire, where he meticulously and poetically captures the changing seasons. The series 220 for 2020, created exclusively on the iPad, is presented in a unique installation that invites visitors to immerse themselves in the subtle transformations of light and landscape. The final rooms explore Hockney’s dialogue with art history and opera, revealing references to past masters and stage works reinterpreted in a multimedia format.
Installation view of the exhibition "David Hockney 25", gallery 5, David Hockney, 220 for 2020. Collection of the artist, work presented in large format: David Hockney, 27th March 2020, No. 1, Painting on iPad printed on paper, mounted on five aluminum panels, 364.1 x 521.4 cm together, Collection of the artist, Installation view of the exhibition David Hockney 25, Gallery 5, Level 1, Room Four Years in Normandy (2019-2023), exhibition presented from April 9 to August 31, 2025 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. © David Hockney © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage
David Hockney: Trajectory and Vision
A key figure in British and international art since the 1960s, David Hockney has built a career marked by reinvention, creative freedom, and a keen eye for everyday life. Born in Bradford, England, Hockney quickly stood out for his ability to combine technical mastery with formal irreverence. His work evolved alongside the transformations of the century, drawing from European art, Eastern painting traditions, and Californian pop culture.
LEFT: David Hockney, "Portrait of My Father", 1955, Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 Inches), © David Hockney, Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt, The David Hockney Foundation; RIGHT: David Hockney, "After Blake: Less is Known that People Think" 2024, Acrylic on canvas 72 x 48", © David Hockney, Photo Credit: Jonathan Wilkinson
During the lockdowns brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, Hockney turned his attention to nature and produced a series of digital works that celebrate spring and renewal. Created on the iPad, these images became visual symbols of hope during uncertain times. His pursuit of the essence of human vision led to the publication of Secret Knowledge (2001), a book in which he explores the use of optical devices by Old Masters. More than just an artist, Hockney is a visual thinker, deeply committed to the idea that art is a way of seeing—and living—the world. His personal motto, “Love Life,” encapsulates his practice: a constant celebration of sensory experience and the beauty found in everyday observation.
 David Hockney, "May Blossom on the Roman Road" 2009, Oil on 8 canvases (36 x 48" each) 182.88 x 487.7 x 0 cm (72 x 192 x 0 inches) © David Hockney | Photo credit: Richard Schmidt
Curatorship
The exhibition’s curatorship reflects the artist’s intimate involvement in its conception. The artistic direction is led by Suzanne Pagé, who also serves as the general curator. Sir Norman Rosenthal joins as guest curator, while François Michaud, curator at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, acts as associate curator, with the assistance of Magdalena Gemra. The entire curatorial project was developed in close dialogue with Hockney himself, who actively contributed to the selection of works and the narrative structure of the exhibition path. Each space was designed not only to showcase the technical diversity of his oeuvre, but also to highlight the coherence of his poetic vision over time.
LEFT: Installation view of the exhibition "David Hockney 25", gallery 4, Portraits and Flowers Room (2000-2025), exhibition presented from April 9 to August 31, 2025 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. © David Hockney © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage; RIGHT: Installation view of the exhibition "David Hockney 25", gallery 10, Hockney Paints the Stage, 2025, Creation by David Hockney & Lightroom, Conception 59 Productions, Installation view of the exhibition David Hockney 25, gallery 10, level 2, room Hockney paints the opera, exhibition presented from April 9 to August 31, 2025 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. © David Hockney © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage
Landscape as a Theater of Perception
In David Hockney’s work, landscape is not merely a backdrop but a dynamic space where vision is revealed in motion. Throughout his career, the artist has explored vastly different geographies — from the rolling hills of Yorkshire to the fields of Normandy and the sun-drenched streets of California — always with a keen sensitivity to variations in light, color, and depth. Rather than portraying nature passively, Hockney reconstructs it from multiple viewpoints, as seen in the striking Bigger Trees Near Warter, a panoramic composition created en plein air and made up of dozens of interconnected panels. His approach transcends topographical representation; it is a study of sensory experience, memory, and the passage of time. Through his digital landscapes and fragmented compositions, Hockney transforms the landscape genre into a 21st-century visual laboratory.
 David Hockney, "Bigger Trees near Warter or/or Painting on the Motif for the New Post-Photographic Age" 2007, Oil on 50 canvases (36 x 48 inches each) 457.2 x 1219.2 cm (180 x 480 inches) © David Hockney | Photo credit: Prudence Cuming Associates Tate, UK.
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