Persons [ ] Drawing makes you See things Clearer | David Hockney, 1937-2026

David Hockney at work in his studio, 1978

“Anything simple always interests me.”

” I’m always excited by the unlikely, never by ordinary things.”

“You must plan to be spontaneous.”

“If we are to change our world view, images have to change.”

“Laugh a lot. It clears the lungs.”

“The moment rules over everything.”

David Hockney, Beach House by Day, 1990

“What an artist is trying to do for people is bring them closer to something, because of course art is about sharing. You wouldn’t be an artist unless you wanted to share an experience, a thought.”

“In fact, most artists want to make things a bit more difficult for themselves as they go along, to challenge themselves.”

“We don’t all see the same way at all. Even if I’m sitting looking at you, there is always the memory of you as well. And a memory is now. So someone who’s never met you before is seeing a different person. That’s bound to be the case. We all see something different.”

We Two Boys Together Clinging 1961 David Hockney

David Hockney, We Two Boys Together Clinging, 1961

“I don’t value prizes of any sort.”

“It is very good advice to believe only what an artist does, rather than what he says about his work.”

“I prefer living in color.”

“I draw flowers every day and send them to my friends so they get fresh blooms every morning.”

“Drawing is rather like playing chess: your mind races ahead of the moves that you eventually make.”

David Hockney, 2907 Montcalm Avenue (My House In Blue And Red), 1981

“Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer and clearer still, until your eyes ache.”

“It’s the very process of looking at something that makes it beautiful.”

“Faces are the most interesting things we see; other people fascinate me, and the most interesting aspect of other people – the point where we go inside them – is the face. It tells all.”

“Tragedy is a literary concept.”

“Listening is a positive act: you have to put yourself out to do it.”

“I actually think the deafness makes you see clearer. If you can’t hear, you somehow see.”

David Hockney b. 1937 The Luxor Hotel 1978

David Hockney, The Luxor Hotel, 1978

“To me, the world’s rather beautiful if you look at it. Especially nature.”

“A belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.”

“Always live in the ugliest house on the street – then you don’t have to look at it.”

“What I didn’t know was I was deeply attracted to the big space.”

“As you get older, it gets a bit harder to keep the spontaneity in you, but I work at it.”

David Hockney, Stage design for Parade. Triple Bill, 1981

“I’m a very early riser, and I don’t like to miss that beautiful early morning light.”

“Enjoyment of the landscape is a thrill.”

“Like people, trees are all individuals.”

“I’m a natural sceptic.”

“I quite like visitors because I don’t go out much. I don’t go to concerts or opera anymore. I can’t hear much. It’s isolating, it is. When I’m in the studio, I feel like I’m 30. But when I leave it, I know I’m 80. So, naturally, I stay in here.”

David Hockney, 1937-2026