Andy Warhol vs David Hockney Timeline

Andy Warhol 38

1928 Andy Warhol born in Pittsburgh Andrew Warhola, son of Rusyn immigrants His parents had emigrated from a village in what is now Slovakia. His father worked in construction and coal.
1936 – 1938 Sydenham's chorea Months in bed with a nervous disorder Bedridden as a child, Warhol collected film magazines and celebrity photographs and drew constantly. He called it the formative period of his life.
1942 His father dies He was fourteen Andrej Warhola had set aside savings specifically to pay for his son's education. Warhol was too frightened to attend the funeral and hid until it was over.
1945 – 1949 Carnegie Institute of Technology Pictorial design Nearly dismissed after his first year, he was kept on and graduated with a style already built on tracing, blotting and repetition.
1949 Moves to New York And loses the final a A Glamour magazine credit printed his name as Andy Warhol rather than Warhola. He kept the mistake.
1952 First solo exhibition Drawings based on Truman Capote Warhol had been writing to Capote persistently and made a show from his writing. Almost nothing sold.
1955 – 1959 The I. Miller shoe advertisements The most successful commercial artist in New York A weekly series of blotted-line shoe drawings for a Manhattan retailer that won awards and made him wealthy well before the Pop paintings.
1957 Has his nose reshaped He remained unhappy with his appearance Warhol was self-conscious about his skin and nose all his life, and later built a persona around wigs, glasses and deliberate blankness.
1960 First comic and Coca-Cola paintings Superman, Popeye, Dick Tracy Painted by hand with drips still showing. When he saw Lichtenstein's cleaner version of the same idea he abandoned comics entirely.
1961 The Bonwit Teller window Five paintings behind mannequins His first public showing of Pop work was a department store display on Fifth Avenue, used as a backdrop for spring dresses.
1962 Adopts photo-silkscreen The technique that removes the hand Warhol began transferring photographs directly onto canvas through silk mesh. He said he wanted to be a machine, and this was how.
1962 Campbell's Soup Cans exhibited 32 canvases — the birth of Pop Art Warhol exhibited Campbell's Soup Cans in July 1962 at the Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles — 32 canvases, one for each variety of soup. The show launched Pop Art and asked whether commercial imagery could be fine art.
1962 Marilyn Diptych painted After Marilyn Monroe's death Warhol created the Marilyn Diptych in 1962 shortly after Monroe's death in August. The 50 silkscreened images — half in vivid colour, half in fading black and white — comment on celebrity, death and mass reproduction.
1962 The Death and Disaster series Car crashes, electric chairs, race riots Made in the same months as the soup cans and rarely shown beside them. Warhol said that when you see a gruesome picture enough times it stops having any effect.
1963 Starts making films Sleep — five hours and twenty minutes A man sleeping, in near-static long takes. Of the nine people at the premiere, two stayed to the end.
1963 – 1968 The Factory era Silver-lined studio becomes the centre of New York cool Warhol opened his silver-lined Factory studio in New York in 1963. It became the cultural centre of 1960s New York, attracting celebrities, drag queens, musicians and socialites. Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground and Edie Sedgwick were regulars.
1964 Empire Eight hours of one building A single unmoving shot of the Empire State Building from dusk into night. Warhol said it was a way to see time go by.
1964 – 1966 The Screen Tests Nearly five hundred silent portraits Visitors to the Factory were sat before a camera and asked not to move for three minutes. Dylan, Sedgwick, Ginsberg and Reed all sat for one.
1964 The Silver Factory Billy Name lines it with foil A former hat factory on East 47th Street covered in silver foil and paint, open at all hours to a shifting cast of artists, addicts and hangers-on.
1964 Thirteen Most Wanted Men is painted over Removed from the World's Fair His mural of mugshots on the New York State Pavilion was covered in silver paint within days, on official orders.
1965 Announces he has stopped painting To concentrate on film The retirement lasted about three years. He returned to canvas after the shooting.
1966 – 1967 The Exploding Plastic Inevitable A travelling multimedia assault Films projected over the Velvet Underground playing live, with strobes, whips and dancers. Warhol managed the band and financed the shows.
1967 The banana cover The Velvet Underground & Nico A peelable sticker over a pink fruit, credited to Warhol rather than the band. The record sold poorly and changed everything that came after it.
1968 Warhol shot by Valerie Solanas Nearly killed at the Factory Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shot Warhol at the Factory on June 3, 1968. He was clinically dead for several minutes and required emergency surgery. The shooting profoundly changed him — he became more private and guarded.
1969 Founds Interview magazine Celebrities interviewing each other Transcripts printed almost unedited, with the pauses left in. It ran for nearly fifty years.
1972 His mother dies She had lived with him for twenty years Julia Warhola shared his New York houses from 1952. Warhol did not attend the funeral and told friends for years that she was fine.
1972 The Mao series Painted after Nixon went to China Hundreds of portraits of the world's most reproduced image, done in loud cosmetic colour — a communist leader treated exactly like a film star.
1974 – 1987 The Time Capsules Six hundred and twelve sealed boxes Warhol swept the contents of his desk into a cardboard box each month — letters, magazines, pizza dough, cash, a mummified foot — then taped and dated it.
1975 The Philosophy of Andy Warhol published "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" Warhol published The Philosophy of Andy Warhol in 1975, a witty collection of observations on fame, money, beauty and American culture. It crystallised his persona as the ultimate commentator on celebrity society.
1977 – 1979 Studio 54 Documented nightly in the diaries Warhol was there constantly, recording who arrived with whom into a tape recorder he called his wife.
1979 Portraits of the 70s is savaged Critics call him a society flatterer The Whitney show of commissioned portraits was widely read as proof he had become the court painter of the wealthy.
1980 – 1983 Andy Warhol's TV Cable television as a medium A series of half-hour programmes, later followed by Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes on MTV — he had wanted a television show since the sixties.
1982 – 1985 Working with Jean-Michel Basquiat Around a hundred and sixty joint canvases The older artist started painting by hand again for the first time in decades. Their 1985 joint show was badly reviewed and the friendship did not survive it.
1985 Demonstrates the Amiga Digitally painting Debbie Harry on stage Commissioned by Commodore for the computer's launch. The files he made were recovered from floppy disks nearly thirty years later.
1985 – 1987 Late works and death Camouflage series and unexpected death In his final years Warhol produced his Camouflage series and religious works. He died unexpectedly on February 22, 1987, following routine gallbladder surgery, aged 58. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh opened in 1994.
1986 The Last Supper series Around a hundred works from Leonardo His final and largest series, made for a Milan gallery opposite the actual mural. Warhol had attended church regularly all his life without telling almost anyone.
1988 The estate auction Ten days at Sotheby's His collections filled a sale that ran for over a week and raised more than twenty million dollars, funding the foundation that bears his name.
1994 The Andy Warhol Museum opens In Pittsburgh, where he was born Seven floors devoted to a single artist, including the Time Capsules, which archivists are still working through.

David Hockney 49

1937 David Hockney born in Bradford 9 July 1937 David Hockney is born on 9 July 1937 in Bradford, Yorkshire, the fourth of five children of an accountant's clerk. He grows up in a working-class household that values art, music and pacifism.
1944 – 1953 Childhood in Bradford Early artistic talent Hockney attends Wellington Primary School and Bradford Grammar School, where his drawing ability is noticed early. His pacifist upbringing and a lifelong love of drawing shape his outlook from childhood.
1953 – 1957 Studies at Bradford School of Art Foundation training Hockney studies at Bradford School of Art, where his talent for drawing is quickly recognised. He develops a lifelong interest in portraiture and observational drawing during these formative years.
1957 – 1959 Alternative national service Conscientious objector, hospital work As a conscientious objector influenced by his father's pacifism, Hockney undertakes alternative national service working as a hospital orderly, an experience that later informs some of his early figurative work.
1959 – 1962 Royal College of Art Early Pop Art circle Hockney studies at the Royal College of Art in London alongside artists such as R.B. Kitaj and Allen Jones, becoming associated with the emerging British pop art movement. His graduation work breaks with convention and announces an openly gay artistic voice years before decriminalisation in the UK.
1961 First trip to New York Encounters American art and Whitman's poetry Hockney makes his first visit to New York, where he is struck by the scale and energy of American art and culture, an experience that feeds directly into his work and his growing fascination with America.
1961 We Two Boys Together Clinging Early gay-themed painting Hockney paints We Two Boys Together Clinging, its title taken from a Walt Whitman poem, openly addressing same-sex desire at a time when homosexuality remains illegal in Britain. It is among the earliest works of his career to do so.
1962 Graduates from the Royal College of Art Gold medal dispute Hockney completes his studies at the Royal College of Art. When he refuses to write a required essay, arguing he should be assessed on his art alone, the college changes its regulations rather than fail him, and he graduates with the institution's gold medal.
1963 First visit to Los Angeles California captivates him Hockney visits Los Angeles for the first time, drawn by photographs of swimming pools, palm trees and modernist houses he had seen in magazines. The city immediately captures his imagination.
1964 Moves to Los Angeles California beckons Drawn by photographs of swimming pools and modernist architecture, Hockney moves to Los Angeles, which becomes a second home and the subject of some of his most celebrated work for the next decades.
1966 Meets Peter Schlesinger Muse, model and partner Hockney meets the young American artist Peter Schlesinger in Los Angeles. Schlesinger becomes his partner and the subject of numerous paintings, drawings and photographs over the following years.
1967 A Bigger Splash Iconic swimming pool painting Hockney completes A Bigger Splash, a large acrylic painting of a Californian swimming pool the instant after a diver has vanished beneath the surface. It becomes one of the defining images of 1960s pop art and of his career.
1967 Wins the John Moores Painting Prize Major British art award Hockney wins the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize in Liverpool, one of the most significant British art awards of the period, with his painting Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool.
1968 American Collectors Double portrait of Fred and Marcia Weisman Hockney paints American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman), a sharply observed double portrait of Los Angeles art collectors posed amid their sculpture collection, now held by the Art Institute of Chicago.
1970 – 1971 Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy Double portrait masterpiece Hockney paints Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, a large double portrait of fashion designers Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell with their cat in their London flat. It becomes one of the best-loved British paintings of the 20th century and is acquired by the Tate.
1971 – 1972 Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) Future record-breaking painting Hockney paints Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), depicting a swimmer approaching the edge of a pool watched by a standing figure. Decades later it becomes one of the most expensive paintings by a living artist ever sold at auction.
1973 Relationship with Schlesinger ends Personal upheaval Hockney's relationship with Peter Schlesinger ends, a painful period for the artist that is later documented on film.
1974 "A Bigger Splash" documentary released Jack Hazan film Director Jack Hazan releases A Bigger Splash, a part-documentary, part-staged film following Hockney through the breakdown of his relationship with Peter Schlesinger, blending real footage with dramatised scenes.
1975 Designs for Glyndebourne Stage designs for The Rake's Progress Hockney designs the sets and costumes for Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the first of several major theatrical and operatic commissions that occupy him over the following decades.
1978 New studio in Nichols Canyon Los Angeles base expands Hockney establishes a larger studio and home in Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, providing the space for increasingly ambitious work in painting, photography and stage design over the following decade.
1980 Designs for the Metropolitan Opera Triple bill of French works Hockney designs sets and costumes for a triple bill of short French operas and ballets — works by Satie, Poulenc and Ravel — at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, extending his reputation as a stage designer to one of the world's leading opera houses.
1981 Travels to China "China Diary" with Stephen Spender Hockney travels through China with the poet Stephen Spender, producing drawings and photographs that are later published together with Spender's writing as China Diary.
1982 – 1986 Photographic "joiners" Collaged Polaroid and photo works Hockney develops his "joiners" — composite images assembled from dozens or hundreds of individual photographs, exploring multiple viewpoints and the passage of time. Pearblossom Highway, a large joiner of a Californian desert road, becomes one of the best-known examples.
1985 Designs French Vogue Christmas issue Early digital art experiment Hockney uses an early Quantel Paintbox computer system to create artwork for the Christmas issue of French Vogue, among his first forays into digital image-making, decades before his celebrated iPad drawings.
1986 Pearblossom Highway Landmark photographic joiner Hockney completes Pearblossom Highway, 11–18th April 1986, #2, a large composite photographic work assembled from hundreds of separate images of a Californian desert road junction, now one of his most reproduced photographic works.
1987 Designs Tristan und Isolde Los Angeles Opera Hockney designs an elaborate, vividly coloured production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, one of his most ambitious operatic design projects.
1988 – 1989 Major retrospective tour LACMA, Met, Tate A large retrospective of Hockney's work opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and travels to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London, confirming his international standing.
1995 Elected Royal Academician RA honour Hockney is elected a Royal Academician, joining the Royal Academy of Arts as one of its most prominent members.
1997 Appointed Companion of Honour CH awarded Hockney is appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, one of the United Kingdom's most exclusive honours, recognising his contribution to the arts.
1997 Returns to East Yorkshire Landscape painting in Bridlington Hockney spends increasing time in his native East Yorkshire, beginning an extended exploration of the local landscape — the Wolds, hedgerows and changing seasons — in large-scale paintings made en plein air.
1999 Begins "Secret Knowledge" research Old Masters and optical devices Hockney begins an extended investigation into whether Renaissance and later painters used optical devices such as the camera lucida and camera obscura to achieve their precise realism, a theory that proves both influential and controversial among art historians.
2001 Publishes "Secret Knowledge" Book on Old Master techniques Hockney publishes Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters, setting out his research and arguments about optical aids in historical painting, sparking wide debate in the art world.
2005 Major Yorkshire landscape series Midsummer: East Yorkshire Hockney produces an extended series of large plein-air landscape paintings of the East Yorkshire Wolds, including Midsummer: East Yorkshire, marking a renewed focus on landscape painting after years in Los Angeles.
2007 Bigger Trees Near Warter Monumental Yorkshire landscape Hockney completes Bigger Trees Near Warter, at the time the largest painting he has made, depicting a Yorkshire woodland across 50 canvases. He donates it to Tate Britain.
2009 Begins drawing on the iPhone Brushes app Hockney begins making drawings on his iPhone using the Brushes app, often sending finished works as the day's "morning drawing" to friends — an early sign of his enthusiastic embrace of digital tools.
2010 "Fresh Flowers" exhibition iPhone and iPad drawings in Paris An exhibition of Hockney's iPhone and iPad drawings, Fresh Flowers, is shown at the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, introducing his digital still lifes to a wide audience.
2011 "The Arrival of Spring" begins iPad drawings at Woldgate Hockney begins an extended series of iPad drawings titled The Arrival of Spring, recording the changing seasons along Woldgate, a Yorkshire lane near his studio, day by day.
2012 A Bigger Picture & Order of Merit Royal Academy retrospective The Royal Academy stages A Bigger Picture, a major exhibition of Hockney's Yorkshire landscapes including new works made on the iPad, drawing record crowds. The same year he is appointed to the Order of Merit, one of the UK's most exclusive honours.
2013 Death of David Hockney's studio assistant Tragedy at Bridlington home Dominic Elliott, a young assistant at Hockney's Bridlington studio, dies after being taken ill at the artist's home, a personal tragedy that deeply affects Hockney and his close circle.
2017 80th birthday retrospective Tate, Pompidou & the Met To mark his 80th birthday, a major retrospective of Hockney's career travels from Tate Britain to the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, cementing his status as one of the most popular living artists.
2018 Auction record for a living artist $90.3 million sale Hockney's 1972 painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sells at auction for $90.3 million, becoming, for a time, the most expensive work by a living artist ever sold.
2019 Moves to Normandy New studio in France Hockney relocates his studio to Normandy, France, where he paints the changing seasons around his cottage and continues to work extensively on the iPad, including a series marking the arrival of spring.
2020 "Do remember they can't cancel the spring" Lockdown iPad drawings shared widely During the early Covid-19 lockdowns, Hockney shares a series of vivid iPad drawings of spring arriving at his Normandy home, accompanied by the message "Do remember they can't cancel the spring," offering comfort to a global audience.
2021 Royal Academy exhibition The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020 The Royal Academy presents The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020, a major exhibition of the iPad drawings Hockney made during lockdown, drawing large audiences as pandemic restrictions ease.
2023 "Bigger & Closer" opens Immersive exhibition at Lightroom, London Hockney's first ever immersive digital exhibition, Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away), opens at the new Lightroom venue in London, projecting his work at vast scale with music and narration.
2024 Largest-ever retrospective Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris stages the largest exhibition of Hockney's work ever held, spanning seven decades of painting, photography, drawing and digital works across its galleries.
2025 Continues working in Normandy Painting into his late eighties Into his late eighties, Hockney continues to paint and draw daily at his Normandy home, producing new landscape and still-life work and remaining as prolific as ever.
2026 Final months Returns to London In his final months, Hockney is based at his home in London, where he dies on 11 June 2026.
2026 Death 11 June 2026 David Hockney dies peacefully at his home in London on 11 June 2026, one month before what would have been his 89th birthday. He is survived by his long-time partner Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima.