David Hockney’s 24th February 2021, Yellow and Purple Flowers on a Blue Tablecloth is a digital print that captures a still life of flowers in a vase. Part of Hockney’s ongoing digital series 20 Flowers and Some Bigger Pictures, this artwork documents a consistent theme—a vase of flowers—throughout different dates, weeks, and months from his Normandy home. By making subtle changes in colour, line, and form, Hockney explores the interplay between artist, viewer, and perspective, as well as the passage of time.
Created on a flat digital screen, Hockney’s mastery of line and form brings a three-dimensional quality to the artwork. The piece is so vividly rendered that the viewer can almost feel the texture and presence of the flowers as if they were tangible.