What does a painter think when they’ve passed eighty? Technology changes, the world changes, but painting remains — and David Hockney is answering that question right now at the Serpentine’s north pavilion. The exhibition, open since March, presents the monumental frieze “A Year in Normandie” alongside a new group of paintings: five still lifes, five portraits.
The Frieze and the Seasons
“A Year in Normandie” (2020–21) is a monumental frieze composed of more than one hundred iPad paintings depicting the landscape surrounding Hockney’s former studio in Normandy across a full year. It is on view in London for the first time.
The decision is a fitting match of venue and content. The Serpentine North pavilion, set within Hyde Park, is itself in constant dialogue with nature. Hockney’s vast, fresco-like work on seasonal change feels precisely placed here.
The iPad’s emergence as a painting tool is an extension of Hockney’s ongoing relationship with technology in his practice. Since the 1960s, he had incorporated fax machines, photocopiers, and cameras into his work. Digital tools are the most recent chapter in that journey: capturing seasonal shifts almost instantaneously, distinguishing morning light from afternoon, placing winter fog and spring freshness within the same frame.
Five Still Lifes, Five Portraits
The new works accompanying the frieze carry a more inward dimension. Five still lifes: flowers on a table, fruit, everyday objects not decorative but documents of where Hockney’s gaze has come to rest.
Five portraits from his immediate circle: family members and carers. The choice of these subjects is notable not “important” or famous people, but figures from the texture of daily life. This reflects the value Hockney places on individual observation and the painting of ordinary moments.
Hockney’s Practice and This Exhibition
Hockney’s name is most often associated with “A Bigger Splash” (1967) and Britpop-era popular culture. But this exhibition brings a different perspective within his career to the foreground: naturalist observation, experimental approaches using digital tools, and a continuing investigation of what painting means today.
The subtitle “Some Other Thoughts about Painting” points in the same direction: this is not a retrospective but a thinking journal.
FAQ: David Hockney at Serpentine
- When does the exhibition run and is it free?
“David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting” is open 12 March – 23 August 2026 at Serpentine North, Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA. Free admission. For opening hours, visit serpentinegalleries.org.
- What is “A Year in Normandie”?
A monumental frieze composed of more than one hundred iPad paintings, made 2020–21, recording the landscape around Hockney’s former studio in Normandy across four seasons. On view in London for the first time in this exhibition.
- What is in the exhibition?
The “A Year in Normandie” frieze + five new still lifes + five new portraits (of family members and carers). Hockney’s first major collaboration with the Serpentine, bringing together digital and traditional practice.
NO-26 Note
Hockney’s show is both accessible and substantive: free, inside Hyde Park, and fits easily into a short afternoon. An hour is enough for the large-format frieze; the five still lifes and five portraits then open a different question in the hour that follows.
