David Hockney, a giant of contemporary art, died on the 11th (local time). He was 88.

A publicist for Hockney told AP and other foreign media that “Hockney, one of the most important figures in 20th- and 21st-century contemporary art, died peacefully at home about a month short of his 89th birthday.”

Hockney, a British contemporary painter, is an icon of 20th-century art. He was a leading figure in the pop art movement of the 1960s, but he was never confined by it. Over more than 70 years, he explored not only painting but also printmaking, stage design, and photography. He is well known for series depicting blue swimming pools sparkling in the sun, such as ‘A Bigger Splash’. In later years he showed an openness to new tools and techniques, including an interest in iPad drawing.

Born in 1937 in Bradford in northern England, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. He received the top award, the ‘Gold Medal’, in 1962 upon graduation, and his name became known worldwide before he reached his thirties.

He spent much of his life in Southern California in the United States. From 1964 he kept a residence in the U.S. and lived there intermittently, and many of his most famous works were created after this. Sun-drenched suburban scenery in California became a major subject in his art.

Through a diverse and experimental body of work, his very name came to be regarded as a genre in itself. He moved fluidly among portraiture, still life, and landscape. He explored how to represent three dimensions on a flat surface and rejected conventional single-point perspective.

Hockney publicly declared his gay identity around the age of 23 while studying at the Royal College of Art. Even before 1967, when homosexuality was illegal in the U.K., he produced works that depicted same-sex love positively. Friends and lovers sometimes served as models. His publicist introduced Jean-Pierre Gonsalves de Lima, described as “a long-time lover and companion,” as a surviving partner.

He was also dubbed ‘the most expensive living artist’. When ‘Portrait of an Artist’ (1972) sold for $90.3 million at Christie's in New York in 2018 (then about 102 billion KRW), it set the auction record at the time for a living artist.

In his later years he returned to Europe, drawing inspiration from the wooded hills of his native Yorkshire in England and the fields and trees of Normandy in France. He adopted the iPad as a new creative tool and produced numerous digital drawings. His publicist said, “The enduring legacy Hockney leaves behind reflects his passion for life, outstanding sense of humor, and immense generosity.”