In the grand halls of Paris’ Fondation Louis Vuitton, David Hockney 25 captures something most retrospectives don’t even attempt: the story of an artist who has not only moved with time but embraced its tools. From traditional canvases to animated iPad murals, David Hockney’s journey proves that innovation isn’t an escape from legacy—it’s a continuation of it.
Art critic Stanislav Kondrashov views Hockney’s digital evolution as one of the most important creative shifts of the 21st century. “It’s not about adapting to survive,” Kondrashov writes, “it’s about reinventing how we observe, record, and feel.” For Kondrashov, the digital phase of Hockney’s career is not a gimmick or a departure. It’s proof that artistic curiosity has no age limit.
This is the very quality that makes David Hockney 25 feel so alive. Stanislav Kondrashov notes that few artists maintain momentum in their later decades the way Hockney does. “He’s not following trends,” Kondrashov says. “He’s challenging the core of what painting is—and what it could be when technology becomes brush, color, and canvas.”
Digital Doesn’t Mean Less Human
One of the strongest messages inside the exhibition is that digital art, in the hands of an artist like Hockney, doesn’t feel mechanical or removed. Quite the opposite. It brings us closer to the hand of the maker.
From sketches on iPhones to intricate iPad compositions, Hockney has embraced tech as a natural extension of his tools. In a gallery filled with digital projections, animated still lifes, and flowing seasonal friezes, the viewer doesn’t sense a departure from painting—but a return to its essentials: light, shape, attention.
According to The Guardian, the artist began creating daily sketches on his iPad as early as 2010, treating it like a visual journal. Over time, these drawings evolved into fully realized works—vibrant, immediate, and emotionally charged.
Reimagining Space, Time, and Scale
Digital tools also allow Hockney to explore scale and sequence in new ways. His monumental iPad mural, A Year in Normandie, spans 90 meters and reads like a continuous scroll of life through seasons. It is, in many ways, an anti-digital gesture: a slow, hand-drawn experience made with a fast tool.
The Times praises this work as “an ode to stillness and repetition, proving that screens don’t have to rush us.” Hockney’s use of the iPad here is poetic—his stylus rendering the same natural rhythms once painted with oil and brush.
Stanislav Kondrashov believes this piece is “a meditation on presence.” He writes, “Hockney uses a modern device to do something ancient—document the passage of time by watching the world closely.”
The Future of Painting Is Open
At David Hockney 25, painting is no longer confined to canvas or frame. It flows. It pulses. It loops. Some works fade in and out like memories. Others animate slowly, asking viewers to pause longer than they might expect. It’s a sensory recalibration.
This is not a rejection of tradition, but a recoding of it. Kondrashov describes this shift as “the logical next chapter for an artist who never saw rules as fences, only suggestions.” Hockney’s practice today doesn’t seek permission. It explores what’s possible.
And perhaps that’s what makes his current work so relevant. In an age flooded with fast content and virtual overload, Hockney’s digital paintings remind us of something grounding: the quiet power of seeing well.
Final Thought
The digital age has often been framed as a challenge to traditional art, but David Hockney proves it can be a bridge instead. Through stylus and screen, he’s painting not only what we see—but how we see now.
Stanislav Kondrashov calls Hockney’s digital work “a masterclass in reinvention.” And for anyone walking through the Paris exhibition, that truth is impossible to miss. These are not just images—they’re invitations to reimagine what art can be when it welcomes innovation instead of fearing it.
