CGN received the following message from GRAY upon the passing of David Hockney. The gallery will open an exhibition, David Hockney: The Moon Room, on July 10 in West Town.

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We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of David Hockney, an artist who produced some of the most vivid and influential works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, driven by boundless curiosity and defying conventions throughout his seven-decade career. He passed away peacefully at home on 11 June 2026, 1 month short of his 89th birthday.

It seems almost a miracle to me that from what I imagine was the dark North of coal dust covered, postwar England emerged one of the brightest burning spirits we have ever known. I met David Hockney in 1982 during preparation for the gallery’s first exhibition with him—his then newly created photographic collages—works which, 40 years later, still impress with their complexity and provocation. The dashing, curious, well-read blond with quick wit and devastating talent as a draughtsman nevertheless captured my imagination most with his frank exhortation that the real dream was rather simple—to be fortunate enough to be able to wake each day, go to the studio, and do just exactly as he wished.

I visited David many times over the next 45 years. The funniest was being driven by him through the Santa Monica Mountains, listening to Verdi at full volume while he described how the music and the curves would shape his set and costume designs, then in the works. Every studio visit was magical, but perhaps the most memorable was one in his Pembroke Studio around 2015, when, just the two of us together, he opened up about life, his loves, and his disappointments. At every other time, humor and stoicism always masked his expressions of sadness, but not that day when he indulged himself for a little while. I am so grateful to have been his friend and to have merited his trust. His work inspires me and fills me with joy. - Paul Gray

Born in 1937 in Bradford, England, Hockney gained notoriety at the age of 25 after refusing to submit a life-drawing assignment and written essay to the Royal College of Art, saying his work should be judged on its own merit. The school, which initially withheld his diploma, changed its regulations, and also awarded Hockney that year’s Gold Medal. Hockney quickly became one of the defining and most singular figures of the Pop Art movements in both Europe and the United States.

In the late 1960s, Hockney relocated to California and established himself as a prolific figurative and landscape artist. He is perhaps best recognized for the works he produced there: brightly colored, large-scale, evocative images of the Southern California lifestyle, as well as domestic, intimate portraits of his friends, family, and lovers. He joined GRAY in 1982 and was featured in sixteen solo and group exhibitions with the gallery.

Hockney’s works are notable for their quietness of subject, exploration of space, and subtle reduction of form, while always containing a masterful control of vibrant color. Throughout his career, Hockney worked in a wide variety of media, including painting, drawing, collage, photography, and printmaking, often utilizing emerging technologies of the time, such as fax machines, laser photocopiers, iPads, and other digital instruments. He is also the author of several books, perhaps most notably Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters (2001, Thames & Hudson), in which he explored how optics and optical perspective have, since the Renaissance, radically influenced how we see and think.

Hockney had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Portrait Gallery, London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of Art, New York, among many others. He received numerous awards and honors, including the first Annual Award of Achievement from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, Los Angeles; a Lorenzo de Medici Lifetime Career Award from the Florence Biennale; and nine honorary degrees from institutions worldwide. In 1997, he was made a Companion of Honour from the British and Commonwealth Order for his outstanding achievement in the arts.

Hockney’s work can be found in numerous distinguished public collections around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate in London; and the Getty and LACMA in Los Angeles, among many others.

Working with David Hockney has been an extraordinary honor and pleasure for us at GRAY.