{"id":471073,"date":"2026-03-12T07:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/471073\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T07:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:49:13","slug":"i-found-david-hockneys-80-metre-ipad-painting-surprisingly-moving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/471073\/","title":{"rendered":"I found David Hockney\u2019s 80-metre iPad painting surprisingly moving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Otherwise, though, the prevailing impression is of nature\u2019s unhurried, inexorable rhythms, as we move from bare-branched trees, represented in midwinter, to the flaring blossom of spring, early summer\u2019s great, shaggy greenery, the fallen, orange and yellow leaves of autumn, and back to winter \u2013 and white.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the four seasons \u2013 but counter-intuitively, given the work\u2019s emptiness, I was reminded of another venerable artistic subject: the Ages of Man. Because \u2013 and this is its enchantment \u2013 the frieze also functions as a metaphor for an individual\u2019s long life, marked by moments of serenity and bliss, but also passages of hardship, difficulty, even grief. At points, Hockney portrays imposing fallen boughs, like spiky abstract sculptures, which have a funereal air. There\u2019s rain as well as sunshine in this Normandie-Neverland.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve never been totally sold on Hockney\u2019s <a class=\"ck-custom-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/royal-family\/2025\/04\/12\/meet-the-kings-new-ipad-artist\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iPad art<\/a>. In this case, too many of his marks (perfect circles denoting dandelions; odd, staccato dot-clusters conveying the immateriality of clouds) are obviously artificial. Off-putting in their inhuman uniformity, they jar with the natural subject matter (although Hockney\u2019s palette, with its intense purples, is hardly naturalistic). Several transitions within the frieze are awkward and abrupt.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, I was surprised by how spellbinding I found A Year in Normandie. It doesn\u2019t reflect my memory of lockdown (our household was upended by a demanding one-year-old); it might not reflect yours. But it is, somehow, universal: a sort of quiet paradise that simultaneously implies life\u2019s ups and downs. The effect is beautiful, transporting and \u2013 since Hockney\u2019s art is often said to be simplistically carefree \u2013 unexpectedly emotional.<\/p>\n<p>At Serpentine North until Aug 23; <a class=\"ck-custom-link\" href=\"http:\/\/serpentinegalleries.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">serpentinegalleries.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Otherwise, though, the prevailing impression is of nature\u2019s unhurried, inexorable rhythms, as we move from bare-branched trees, represented&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[168439,1897,6225,164236,6485,6486,53243,5343,168438,1120,96,10993,8403,121617,263,53205,56,54,55,157732],"class_list":["post-471073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-alastair-sooke","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-amp-crafts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-bayeux-tapestry","tag-culture","tag-culture-editors-choice","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-exhibitions","tag-ipad","tag-paintings","tag-review","tag-serpentine-gallery","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}