David Hockney 16th March 2021, Tulips in Cut Glass For Sale

Hockney’s 16^th March 2021, Tulips in Cut Glass, 2021 is part of his 20 Flowers and Some Bigger Pictures series, created in the second half of the global pandemic as an antidote to the anxiety of the time. However, Hockney’s two overriding passions: still life and flowers are threaded through his entire 60-year artistic oeuvre.

Hockney’s evolving visual language can be traced in his depiction of flowers from his 60’s series, Still Life (Flowers for a Wedding) to Three Black Flowers in the 80’s period of his work, yet 16^th March 2021, Tulips in Cut Glass, 2021 is created on Hockney’s new favourite medium, an Apple Ipad.

The artwork depicts a transparent glass vase filled with water in which sits a bunch of vibrant flowers: the tulip buds are vibrant shades of violet and pink with verdant green stems visibly soaking up the vase water. The vase of tulips sit on a red gingham table cloth with a ‘green’ shadow cast over the table as if sun is coming in from a side window, Hockney called it ‘the low sun in February.’ The vase of flowers sits against a solid deep burgundy background which highlights the vibrancy of the still life.

16^th March 2021, Tulips in Cut Glass, 2021 is created on an Ipad screen yet through Hockney’s mastery of line and form appears as if it is a three-dimensional image. Through the ‘brushes’ app, Hockney can build up a textural effect, using multiple colour shades and a smudging effect that gives the artwork a raw and ‘unfinished’ quality.