Seminal British painter David Hockney has died at age 88. Hockney, whose colorful works include Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), The Splash, and My Parents, died at his home in London on Thursday, just a few weeks short of his 89th birthday. In a statement, publicist Erica Bolton described the painter as one of the “most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries.” In a career spanning seven decades, Hockney was a key figure in the pop art movement and later moved into other forms, such as photography and digital art. In 2018, his Pool with Two Figures work sold at Christie’s auction house in New York City for $90 million, breaking a record for the most expensive artwork by a living artist. The record stood for just a few months until Jeff Koons’ Rabbit sculpture sold for more than $91 million in May 2019. Born in Bradford, northern England, Hockney’s work also depicts scenes from his adopted homes in California and London. He was also a lifelong smoker, who campaigned against the imposition of restrictions on tobacco. “I’ve smoked for 62 years, so why stop now?” he told an interviewer. “Picasso smoked, died at 91. Matisse smoked, died at 84. Monet smoked, died at 86. Van Gogh smoked a pipe, and he died early, but not from smoking.”
