Art review: David Hockney, Tate Britain, London

Given that the Tate Britain website crashed when booking opened for its David Hockney retrospective, I shouldn’t have been surprised at the Mona Lisa-at-the-Louvre level crowds there to see the work of one of the world’s most popular living artists.

Hockney’s appeal extends beyond the confines of the art world for many reasons, not least his iconic use of colour and the universality of his themes.

All the greatest hits are present and correct in this blockbuster exhibition, a survey of almost 60 years of Hockney’s art.

While it is a joy to behold, the life-affirming vibrancy of the California swimming pool paintings and the gorgeously languid portrait ‘Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy’ up close, there are many other less obvious gems, including a self-portrait drawn when Hockney was a teenager, and ‘A Rake’s Progress’, his Hogarth-inspired series of etchings depicting his struggles as a gay man in 1960s New York.

While at first glance the landscapes of Hockney’s home place of east Yorkshire and the Grand Canyon would appear to be stark in their differences, Hockney uses similar techniques to capture the beguiling beauty of both.

Hockney excels at conveying the sublimity of nature, as can be seen in ‘Going Up Garrowby Hill’, where a road snakes its way past a sentry line of trees and a patchwork of fertile fields.

Hockney was an early adopter of the iPad and iPhone, using the Brushes app to paint hundreds of portraits, still lifes and landscapes. The process behind the creation of the iPad work ‘Views Through the Artist’s Bedroom Window, Bridlington’ is shown on three screens, like a glorious technicolour etch-a-sketch.

This exhibition is a supreme example of art as therapy.

While the huge crowds didn’t make for the most comfortable of viewing experiences, there was a conviviality in the chaos which lightened the usually restrictive art gallery atmosphere.

I exited through the gift shop with a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

Star Rating: 5/5

David Hockney: 60 Years of Work runs at Tate Britain until May 29