Serpentine is honoured to 2021, Composite iPad painting © David Hockney present Serpentine North from 12 March to 23 August 2026 specific mural in the garden at 9am to 1 2 pm , 2025 , A crylic on canvas © David Hockney . Photo: Prudence Cuming an exhibition of new and recent works by David Hockney . T at he exhibition will showcase a series of new paintings for Serpentine alongside the artist’s monumental frieze ( 2020 2021 ) , on view in London A Year in Normandie for the first time. Admission will be free to the exhibition which marks the artist’s first presentation at Serpentine.
The exhibition unveils a new body of work by the celebrated British artist, comprising five still life alongside five portraits that depict members of the artist’s close circle, including his family and carers. These paintings are united by their frontal composition and by the recurring motif of a gingham tablecloth that provides the setting for each composition combines abstract and figurative . In these new works Hockney modes of representation. For the artist, all figurative painting is inherently abstract, so long as it exists upon a flat surface.
Accompanying the exhibition, Serpentine will present a large-scale printed mural by David Hockney in the garden at Serpentine North . The work highlights a scene from A Year in Normandie’s spring cycle depicting a tree house. The monumental digital print will be displayed at the back of the North Gallery , echoing its creation in David Hockney ’s own garden in Normandy.
David Hockney said: “ I have always believed that art should be a deep pleasure…There is always, everywhere, an enormous amount of suffering, but I believe that my duty as an artist is to overcome and alleviate the sterility of despair… New ways of seeing mean new ways of f eeling… I do believe that painting can change the world .”
Bettina Korek, CEO, Serpentine said: “David Hockney’s work invites us to slow down, to look closely, and to reconnect with the world around us. Presenting A Year in Normandie alongside new paintings at Serpentine North reflects our belief in making new connections between artists and audiences. We are delighted to welcome visitors to encounter these works freely, in the park.”
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine said : “We are excited to present a new exhibition by one of the world’s most important artists. At 88, David Hockney continues to explore the language of painting with remarkable ingenuity, fusing figurative and abstract modes across still lifes, portraits, and a panoramic frieze comprising more than 1 00 iPad paintings. In his new portraits, he captures not only his sitters but also the very act of seeing, while the frieze offers a deeply personal meditation on the passage of time. The changing seasons will resonate throughout the gallery and a new mural in the garden of Serpentine North highlights the transition from spring to summer as the surrounding landscape undergoes its own renewal. ”
A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting will also present Hockney’s celebrated frieze, A Year in Normandie (2020-2021), which will extend across the perimeter gallery of Serpentine North, charting the change of seasons at the artist’s former studio in Normandy, France.
Recommending that people slow down and notice the beauty of the world around them, Hockney believes that everyday cycles, like a sunrise, are worth celebrating. While the world came to a halt in the Spring of 2020, Hockney continued his close observations of the world around him by producing over a hundred digital paintings on his iPad, working swiftly and intuitively much like the Impressionists. The format of A Year in Normandie was inspired by Chinese scroll paintings as well as the eleventh-century Bayeux Tapestry . Hockney’s digital painting tools allowed him to capture the essence of each scene, skilfully recording changes in light and weather en plein air. His radiant compositions combine flat areas of bold colour with playful pop-like touches. As the days pass, spring transitions into summer, then autumn and winter.
Accompanying the exhibition, Serpentine and Franz und Walther Koenig will publish a catalogue designed by the artist . The publication will bring together new and insightful contributions from Marco Livingstone and Olivia Laing . Generously illustrated in colour throughout, it also features an extensive conversation between David Hockney and Serpentine’s Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist.
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director; and Claude Adjil, Curator at Large; with Liz Stumpf, Assistant Exhibitions Curator.
Celebrating Turner Contemporary’s 15th anniversary this spring, David Hockney will realise the next Sunley Window at the gallery opening on 1 April 2026. Measuring Hockney’s work will transform the gallery’s iconic floor to seven by ten metr e s, ceiling window in the Sunley Gallery overlooking Margate’s beaches and the North Sea.
David Hockney (b. 1937 in Bradford, Yorkshire, UK) is one of the most influential artists of our tim decade spanning career, the British artist remains endlessly inventive and committed to celebrating the world around him, epitomised by his signature phrase, “Love Life.” A deep fascination with perspective and a desire to investigate how we see and represent the world led him to explore a range of artistic mediums from painting to photographic collages, set design, drawing and printmaking. Hockney’s use of new technology is an extension of his interest in different modes of capturing r eality. From his Polaroid composites to fax machine drawings and, in recent years, his iPad paintings, he seeks to unlock the potential of each technology for the creation of art.
David Hockney’s work has been presented , in major solo exhibitions in institutions worldwide, including Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2025); Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2023); Tate Britain Centre Pompidou and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2017), among many others. David Hockney has been honoured with many prestigious awards, including his recognition as a Companion of Honour from the British and Commonwealth Order for his outstanding achievement in the arts in 1997. He r award (2026) . ecently received the Officier in France’s Légion d’Honneur David Hockney’s work is part of numerous public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Portrait Gallery, London; Tate Britain s.