David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020

During the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, David Hockney was in Normandy, and recorded the arrival of spring in exuberant iPad paintings Over a hundred new iPad paintings on display at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2021 Published to accompany an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, 23 May – 26 August 2021 At the beginning of 2020, just as global Covid-19 restrictions were coming into force, the artist David Hockney was at his house, studio and garden in Normandy. From there, he witnessed the arrival of spring, and recorded the blossoming of the surrounding landscape on his iPad, amedium he has been using for over a decade. Working outdoors was an antidote to the anxiety of the moment for Hockney – ‘We need art, and I do think it can relieve stress,’ he says. This uplifting publication – produced to accompany a major exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts – includes 116 of his new iPad paintings and shows to full effect Hockney’s singular skill in capturing the exuberance of nature.