David Hockney at the Centre Pompidou

05/07/2017

David Hockney at the Centre Pompidou : figurative art revival

From 21 June to 23 October, the Centre Pompidou houses the greatest retrospective of the work of English painter David Hockney, in collaboration with London’s Tate Britain and the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

 

An edgy life

 

Born in 1937 in a modest family in Yorkshire, David developed very early on a passion for art. Since his dad was a conscientious objector during the Second World War, David refused to do his military service and used to address political issues in his earlier works. He spent his life between England and Paris before travelling to the United States where he found his own genuine style, far from the avant-gardism he has been wrongly seeking for as yet.

 

 

« The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you are an artist. » (David Hockney)

Going against his contemporaries, David Hockney has developed his artwork inspired by beauty, rather than politics and provocation. In search for an ideal of minimalism, color and impact, the swimming pool paintings – inspired by his lover Peter Schlesinger – undoubtedly embody this pursuit of beauty. Primary colors and geometrical shapes mingle with the Californian beating sun to create an atmosphere both liberating and sweltering.

 

 

An amazing retrospective exhibition

 

For the first time, the Centre Pompidou gathered both the most grandiose and unknown works of the artist, thanks to a brilliant scenography. Hence, one will have the unique opportunity to admire Hockney’s drawings, especially his minimalist and suggestive portraits. All the periods are represented, from the swimming pools, the landscapes and double portraits, to his work as a photographer. An artwork like an ode to life or, as he himself said : « I think I am greedy, but I am not greedy for money (…), I am greedy for an exciting life. I want it to be exciting all the time, and I get it, actually. I intend to have it exciting until the day I fall over. ».

 

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