An Even Bigger Picture

Bonhams is proud to have introduced the first auction dedicated to Britain's most celebrated living artist, David Hockney (born 1937). With a long-standing tradition of offering editions by the artist and the unquestionable appetite for his works, we are delighted to revive and reframe the auction by focusing on An Even Bigger Picture: David Hockney and Friends. The auction will highlight Hockney's prolific printmaking career together with contemporary creative makers and key influencers, from fellow graduates of the Royal College of Art in the 1960s to leading artists and friends he has met along the way.

This dedicated sale is a celebration of the artist's creative output, showcasing Hockney as a pioneer in pushing the boundaries of each medium and promoting groundbreaking techniques of printmaking, presenting established genres through a new lens irrespective of styles and traditions. We are actively consigning material across key genres; from iconic swimming pools, to the artist's longstanding fascination with still lifes, to investigations into portraiture and studies of perspectives and landscapes. Starting with well-established techniques of etching and lithography and moving on to his experimentation in hand-made colour-machine and digital printing, this sale offers an opportunity to dive into Hockney's 'bigger picture'.

Whilst Hockney continues to actively create, we are seeing a surge of interest in the early stages of his printmaking career in addition to his later iPad drawings, achieving exceptional results and solidifying his position as one of the most sought-after artists today. This is an exciting time to present the sale with 2025 being the year to celebrate Hockney's origins and legacy, marked by the monumental retrospective exhibition held at Foundation Louis Vuitton (David Hockney 25, Paris) and Hockney's hometown Bradford being the UK City of Culture 2025.