Hockney was born in Bradford and learned his craft by pushing a pram containing art materials around the city as he painted on the streets.
After training in at Bradford School of Art, he went on to study at the Royal College of Art, graduating with a gold medal distinction.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1964, his distinctive painting style highlighted life with his swimming pool series of paintings.
His most famous works also included the portrait Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, of fashion designer Ossie Clark and textile designer Celia Birtwell, in 1971.
He also went on to produce stage designs for theatrical spaces including opera, and in 2024 backed a nationwide drawing project for Bradford’s tenure as UK City of Culture 2025.
Last year he spoke to BBC culture editor Katie Razzall about his his biggest exhibition, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. When it was being planned two years earlier, he wasn’t sure he would ever see it, he said.
“I just thought I probably wouldn’t be here,” he said at the time. “I’m still a smoker, a happy smoker fed up of bossy people telling you what to do.”
The exhibition featured a gallery dedicated to his love of spring, after the artist, who lives in Normandy during the pandemic in 2020, used his iPad to paint the trees and flowers blooming as spring arrived.
He is survived by his long-time partner and companion Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, his great-nephew Richard – his studio assistant in his last years – his brothers Philip and John, plus his nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
