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It’s not hard to find a David Hockney exhibition in London. Last year, the octogenarian had shows at the Royal Drawing School and Lightroom, the year before that you could find special displays of his work at the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, and there’s another one coming to the Serpentine next month. However, Hockney exhibitions anywhere else in the UK are much fewer and farther between. So, it’s a pretty big deal that a Hockney piece will be landing at one of Britain’s best regional galleries later this year.
David Hockney has created a brand new window installation for Margate’s Turner Contemporary. The piece is based on an iPad painting the artist created in 2020, depicting a sunrise in Normandy as part of a huge body of work responding to the changing seasons, weather and light. It’ll be the first time that a major work by Hockney is on display in the seaside town and a rare opportunity to see a piece by the artist outside of London.
Created for the gallery’s 15th anniversary, the piece titled ‘Sunley Window’ will take up the entirety of the 22-by-32-foot, floor-to-ceiling window in the building’s Sunley Gallery, which looks out towards the North Sea. The idea is that, at night, it’ll be illuminated and become ‘a point of light on the seafront’. You’ll be able to admire it whether inside the gallery or outside taking a stroll on the promenade.
The work has extra significance due to the fact that Hockney has been a life-long admirer of JMW Turner, the gallery’s namesake, and his interpretations of light, atmosphere and landscape. Back in 2007, Hockney even curated an exhibition of J.M.W. Turner's watercolours at the Tate Britain
David Hockney: Sunley Window 2026 will be on at the Turner Contemporary in Margate from April 1 to November 1. It’ll coincide with another landmark Hockney show at London’s Serpentine gallery, which will display his monumental digital artwork A Year in Normandie, alongside ten new stills lifes and portraits.
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