David Hockney helped define the look of modern California. Here’s the story behind his record-breaking painting.

David Hockney died on Thursday at age 88, marking the loss of one of the modern era’s most celebrated artists.News of David Hockney’s death highlights his role in 1960s pop art and his luminous California swimming pool paintings.His Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures) sold at Christie’s in New York on November 15, 2018, for $90.3 million, then the highest auction price for a painting by a living artist, surpassing Jeff Koons’s Balloon Dog (Orange) in 2013.Born in Bradford, England, he emerged as a defining voice whose work bridged British roots and California modernism.This video outlines the milestone sale and the themes that shaped his career.