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1937-52
Born in Bradford on July 9, attends grammar school, receives private lessons in painting
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1953-58
Attends Bradford Art School, graduates, performs National Service
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1959
Enters Royal College of Art, develops friendship with R.B. Kitaj among others
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1960
Sees Picasso exhibition at Tate Gallery, comes under the influence of Walt Whitman, makes the first of the “love” paintings, shows with Young Contemporaries
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1961
Shows again with Young Contemporaries, turns to etching, visits New York for the first time, paints A Grand Procession of Dignitaries in the Semi-Egyptian Style among other imagined scenes
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1962
Graduates from the Royal College of Art, has first gallery representation by John Kasmin, completes The First Marriage (A Marriage of Styles) and Picture Emphasizing Stillness in his new London apartment/studio
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1963
Paints double-portraits, completes A Rake’s Progress etchings, visits New York for a second time, has first solo exhibition Pictures with People In at Kasmin's gallery
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1964
Moves to Los Angeles, paints the scenery including palm trees and swimming pools, completes California Art Collector, travels to Iowa and New York
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1965
Visits the Rocky Mountains, paints Portrait Surrounded by Artistic Devices, begins working with printer Ken Tyler at Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles where he completes A Hollywood Collection
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1966
Visits Beirut, begins the Cavafy etchings, does designs for Ubu Roi, returns to Southern California, meets Peter Schlesinger, paints Beverly Hills Housewife and Portrait of Nick Wilder
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1967
Is infatuated with Los Angeles, makes numerous paintings influenced by the Southern California lifestyle, paints A Lawn Being Sprinkled and A Bigger Splash
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1968
Paints double-portraits including Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy and American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman), friendship with Henry Geldzahler deepens
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1969
Makes etchings for Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, holidays in France
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1970
Retrospective at Whitechapel opens, continues painting in a naturalistic style, completes Le Parc des Sources, Vichy
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1971
Paints double-portrait Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, travels globally, Jack Hazan begins work on a film documenting breakup with Peter Schlesinger
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1972
Paints Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), does final paintings in a naturalistic style, has final show at Kasmin’s gallery
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1973
Works at Gemini G.E.L. and completes The Weather Series, does prints in honor of Picasso with Aldo Crommelynck, moves to Paris
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1974
Stays in Paris, the movie A Bigger Splash is released, has a survey at Musée des Arts decoratifs
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1975
Designs production for Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, romance blossoms with Gregory Evans, returns to London
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1976
Works at Gemini G.E.L. on lithographic portraits of friends, publishes first portfolio of photographs, publishes first autobiography
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1977
Collaborates with Maurice Payne at Petersburg Press on The Man with the Blue Guitar, continues painting under the influence of Picasso
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1978
Designs production for Mozart’s The Magic Flute, works with colored paper pulp, comes under the influence of Van Gogh, returns to Los Angeles
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1979
Turns attention to portraits making lithographs and paintings, moves to a new residence in the Hollywood Hills
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1980
Designs production for Parade triple bill at the Metropolitan Opera, once again falls under the influence of Picasso
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1981
Designs production for Stravinsky triple bill at the Metropolitan Opera, travels to China, organizes exhibition for National Gallery in London
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1982
Makes composite Polaroid pictures, exhibits at the Pompidou, moves from Polaroid to Pentax camera for photographic collages
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1983
Makes photographic collages, studies Chinese scrolls, delivers lecture on photography at Victoria and Albert Museum, Hockney Paints the Stage opens
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1984
“The most complicated painting I’ve ever done," paints portraits in extreme close-up, begins the Moving Focus series, makes photographic collage, Nude, 17th June, 1984
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1985
Does 41-page essay for French Vogue, receives new hearing aid, elected Associate Royal Academician
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1986
Makes home made prints on office photocopier, creates the photographic collage Pearblossom Highway
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1987
Adopts two dachshunds, celebrates 50th birthday, designs production for Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, films A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China
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1988
Has retrospective at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, buys house and studio in Malibu, paints portraits of chairs, creates first work of art transmitted by fax
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1989
Begins work on Hockney’s Alphabet, participates in the São Paulo Biennial via fax, paints plants and portraits
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1990
Develops Wagner Drive, continues photocopying and faxing, works with a still-video camera, begins production design for Puccini’s Turandot
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1991
Works across numerous media, drives through the American West, begins production design for Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten
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1992
Works on Very New Paintings, a career retrospective opens in Paris and travels to Brussels and Spain
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1993
Publishes That’s the Way I See It, creates portraits of his dachshunds Stanley and Boodgie as well as friends and family, executes first Painted Environment
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1994
Production design for Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress is revived at Glyndebourne, creates portraits using a video camera, visits Henry Geldzahler before he dies
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1995
Makes dog paintings, drawings retrospective in Germany opens, creates Snail’s Space, sees Monet exhibition in Chicago
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1996
Paints portraits and still-lifes, exposes a personally difficult period with his self-portraits, a retrospective is mounted in Manchester
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1997
Celebrates 60th birthday, shows flower paintings in London, included in Birthday Honours List of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, visits Jonathan Silver in Saltaire
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1998
Returns to Los Angeles, paints Yorkshire landscapes from memory, visits the Grand Canyon, paints monumental canvases, writes about painting, returns to making etchings
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1999
Is the subject of two exhibitions in Paris, becomes increasingly consumed by the history of photography and optics, makes drawings using a camera lucida, mother passes away
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2000
Develops the "Great Wall," writes Secret Knowledge, continues to work with a camera lucida, exhibits camera lucida drawings at National Gallery in London
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2001
Has retrospectives in Europe and the U.S., publishes Secret Knowledge, participates in conference at New York Institute for the Humanities, exhibits garden paintings in Paris
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2002
Begins an intense period of making watercolors, visits Norway and Iceland, sits for Lucian Freud, turns attention once again to double portraits
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2003
Shows watercolors in London, paints The Massacre and the Problems of Depiction, makes another trip to Norway, returns to Los Angeles
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2004
Participates in the Whitney Biennial, travels Europe making watercolors, returns to East Yorkshire where he spends time in Bridlington, publishes Hockney’s Pictures
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2005
Continues to work en plein air in the East Yorkshire countryside, exhibits watercolors in Los Angeles, makes portraits and landscapes using oil paint
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2006
Makes paintings en plein air that vary in size from one to six canvases, exhibits portraits in a retrospective that travels from Boston to Los Angeles to London
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2007
Makes the largest en plein air painting of his lifetime, celebrates 70th birthday by curating a Turner exhibition at Tate Britain
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2008
Moves into a large warehouse studio in Bridlington, prepares for a 2012 exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, exhibits his Woldgate Woods paintings in Chicago
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2009
Paints portraits and landscapes in Bridlington, draws on iPhone, exhibits recent paintings in New York
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2010
Paints a series after Claude Lorrain culminating in A Bigger Message, buys first iPad, visits Yosemite and draws the sites on his iPad, creates first multi-camera movie
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2011
Creates The Arrival of Spring in 2011 (twenty eleven) on the iPad and in oils, returns to Yosemite to make additional iPad drawings
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2012
Is included in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, David Hockney: A Bigger Picture opens at the Royal Academy of Arts, draws Stephen Hawking’s portrait on the iPad, turns to charcoal on paper for self-portraits and landscapes
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2013
Draws The Arrival of Spring in 2013 (twenty thirteen) as well as numerous portraits in charcoal, returns to Los Angeles, begins a series of portraits in acrylic, an enormous solo exhibition opens in San Francisco
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2014
Continues painting portraits in Hollywood, paints groups of people and dancers, makes photographic drawings
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2015
Paints The Card Players with Cézanne as inspiration, creates photographic drawings, paints more portraits in acrylic
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2016
82 Portraits and 1 Still-life opens at the Royal Academy of Arts, publishes A History of Pictures, David Hockney: Current opens in Melbourne, the Hockney sumo is published
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2017
Celebrates 80th birthday with exhibitions around the world, creates hexagonal canvases painted in reverse perspective, receives the San Francisco Opera Medal, exploits technology to create 3D photographic drawings
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2018
Makes more hexagonal paintings and uses newer technology for 3D photographic drawings, the Queen’s Window designed by Hockney is unveiled at Westminster Abbey
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2019
Presents landscapes from throughout career in conversation with 11 works by Van Gogh for the exhibition Hockney–Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature at the Van Gogh Museum, and works on location in Normandy
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2020
The first major retrospective of Hockney’s drawings in more than twenty years, David Hockney: Drawing from Life, opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London
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2021
Creates digital animation of the sun as public artwork, publishes Spring Cannot Be Cancelled with Martin Gayford, opens multiple exhibitions of iPad paintings
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2022
Begins the year by painting portraits of friends and acquaintances. and preparing for new exhibitions. Renews forays into the Normandy countryside to plan new projects. Determines to spend more time working in France through the year.
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2023
The immersive exhibition David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) opens at Lightroom, Kings Cross, London.