Blue Hydrangeas

One of the most influential artists in the international painting world today, British artist David Hockney began his exploration of the still life in the 1990s. Mourning the sudden death of a close friend, he began to create floral still lifes in which he contemplated the impermanence of life. Painted during this period, Blue Hydrangeas is the defining work of Hockney’s iconic floral still lifes, establishing the artist’s unique understanding of painting, composition, and the use of color. The painting intuitively demonstrates Hockney’s artistic philosophy that the profundity of a painting does not reside in the subject matter but rather in the way it is handled.