Sunflower II
Signed Print

Seemingly identical to Sunflower I by David Hockney, Sunflower II shows a still life of sunflowers in a pot against a plain background. Here however the black ink appears a little lighter and the image becomes charcoal soft, and yet retains much of the dynamism of the original. As well as a study from life of a subject – flowers – that Hockney loved and returned to throughout his career, the work can also be read as an homage to Dutch master Vincent van Gogh who Hockney had admired since he was young. Throughout his oeuvre Hockney constantly references artists who went before him – such as Picasso and Hogarth – but van Gogh stands out as an inspiration perhaps because Hockney compared his move to LA from london in 1964 to ‘van Gogh going to Arles’. In this way the work acts as a tribute to both the natural and fleeting beauty of flowers as well as the lessons learned by looking at still lifes by other artists which helped shape his eye for detail, space and light. These years of study reach their culmination in the 90s when this work was made, and continues today with Hockney’s prolific production of studies of flowers both in their natural habitats and in still lifes, on his iPad.