David Hockney 25: The Biggest Show Ever for Britain's Best-Loved Painter

In spring 2025, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris cleared all 11 of its galleries for one man: David Hockney. 'David Hockney 25' became the largest exhibition ever devoted to the British artist, with more than 400 works spanning 1955 to 2025.

Though billed as a focus on his last quarter-century, it opened with a portrait the 18-year-old Hockney painted of his father, and ran through swimming pools, Yorkshire and Normandy landscapes, and the iPad drawings of his restless old age. Few artists have embraced new technology so joyfully.

Turning 88 during the run, Hockney — Bradford-born, gloriously undimmed — put it simply: it was the biggest show he'd ever had, and he wanted to 'put it all out there with bells on'.

Image: “Fondation Louis Vuitton 20160413 South 01” — Tosek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.