Collection: Howard Hodgkin

Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017) was one of Britain’s most celebrated contemporary painters and printmakers. He was born in London on the 6th of August 1932 and lived in Hammersmith until 1940 when he was evacuated to America due to the Second World War. During his time in America he was exposed to artists such as Stuart Davis, Matisse and Picasso, which encouraged his interest in painting. Hodgkin returned to England in 1945 and was enrolled at Eton College.

Hodgkin was chosen to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1984. His selected paintings were controversially displayed on green walls rather than the traditional white. His reasoning behind this was that white would distract from his paintings due to the bright Venetian sunlight. Hodgkin wanted to evoke a cohesive sense of spontaneity throughout the exhibition despite each piece taking a long period of time to complete. He worked from memory to create all of his artwork, sometimes layering several different recollections over one another. For example, David’s Pool at Night recalls an evening Hodgkin spent at David Hockney’s home in LA in 1979 with Peter Blake.