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Image via Francisco Anzola / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

English painter David Hockney, whose pool painting sale led to him clinching the then-world record for the highest-priced work by a living artist to be auctioned back in 2018, has had 120 of his high-tech artworks released by renowned art book publisher Taschen.

In 2009, Hockney discovered he could use the iPhone to create art from the comfort of his own bed. Since then, he’s been swapping his paintbrush for the iPhone and iPad; their instantaneity and ease let him create when inspiration struck as he looked out of his window to take in the changing seasons in his former East Yorkshire home.

Taschen’s new book David Hockney: My Window showcases 120 of those musings from 2009 to 2012, most of which are never-seen-before. According to the publisher, “each image depicts a fleeting moment—from the colorful sunrise and lilac morning sky to nighttime impressions, snow-covered branches and the arrival of spring.” Each copy is numbered and signed by Hockney himself.

Hockney, renowned for his dreamy, colorful paintings that contemplate relationships between his subjects, believes “pictures should speak for themselves,” according to The Guardian. Therefore, aside from the number and date of each artwork and whether it was illustrated via the Apple smartphone or tablet, the book’s only text is a short foreword.

“I started on the iPhone in 2009…” Hockney wrote. “There was great advantage in this medium because it’s backlit and I could draw in the dark. I didn’t ever have to get out of bed. Everything I needed was on the iPhone.”



Hockney also detailed that his iPhone artworks were drawn with his thumb, while his iPad creations were brought to life with a stylus to “get more details in.” As such, most of the 120 pieces were created with the iPad, while 44 were completed with the iPhone.

Book designer and editor Hans Werner Holzwarth, who worked on the book with Hockney, said there were many more high-tech works than the 120 curated for the literature. He also described the digital displays as “a kind of sketchbook” for the artist.

“For him, depicting the world is an ongoing moment,” Holzwarth added. “So the iPhone or the iPad is the perfect media for this.”

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When David Hockney discovered the iPhone as an artistic medium, he opened up entirely new possibilities for painting. He made his first digital drawings in spring 2009. The iPhone was easy to use and he didn’t even have to get out of bed to start his working day, drawing morning impressions in broad lines and dazzling colors directly on his screen. In 2010, Hockney first used an iPad which, with its larger screen, expanded his artistic repertoire and enabled an even more complex interplay of color, light, and line. Each image captures a fleeting moment, from the colorful sunrise and lilac morning sky to nighttime impressions and the arrival of spring. Fascinating details reveal drops on window panes, distant lights in the night, reflections on glasses, bottles, and vases an abundance of subtly varied vegetation. We experience the passage of time through the eyes of David Hockney. This artist’s book, printed in large-format, brilliant resolution, presents these impressions in 120 drawings made between 2009 and 2012, arranged by the artist himself in chronological order. Limited to a total of 2,000 copies, each signed by David Hockney. Discover the Collector’s and Art Editions through the link in our bio. #hockney #davidhockney #davidhockneymywindow #art #limitededition

A post shared by TASCHEN (@taschen) on Nov 18, 2019 at 8:53am PST

[via The Guardian, images via various sources]

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