Dancing Lines

David Hockney’s pool works are iconic, recognised for their vibrant colour and bold use of line. They seek to investigate the challenge of capturing water's elusiveness, blending fluidity with tranquillity across a range of mediums, from painting and printmaking to photography. Through these images, Hockney captures not just the surface of the water, but the movement and light that appear to dance across it.

Halcyon’s exhibition David Hockney: Living in Colour features several pool prints, placing them within the broader context of his move to Los Angeles in 1964. These pools sit aside iconic works like Mist (1973) from the Weather Series, where palm trees lining Hollywood Boulevard serve as iconic signifiers of California.

This move was transformative for Hockney, immersing him in a new expansive, sun-filled landscape, a stark contrast to his earlier life in England. This environment brought a palpable sense of freedom and optimism to his work, evident in the vivid hues and dynamic forms that define his pool series.

Displayed opposite his earliest etching, Myself and My Heroes (1961), the exhibition highlights how California’s energy transformed Hockney’s creative vision. The shimmering surfaces of his pools reflect his evolving exploration of the interplay between abstraction and realism. Ultimately, these works are meditations on the impermanence of life and the artist’s ongoing experimentation with new visual styles.

David Hockney’s fascination with water, stemmed from the challenges of representing it. Hockney saw water as both a visual puzzle and dynamic force – constantly shifting in form, transparency and colour. He stated, ‘In the swimming pool pictures, I had become interested in the more general problem of painting the water, finding a way to do it.’

Hockney observed that despite photography being effective for capturing still moments, that it failed to convey the true dynamism of water. ‘If you photograph moving water, it looks rigid when you look at the picture,’ he explained. ‘These dancing lines are suddenly rigid, and it’s not very real.’ To overcome this, Hockney turned to alternative mediums, including lithography, which allowed him to explore water's fluidity in ways photography could not.

Hockney often juxtaposed the organic, undulating lines of water with the rigid, geometric grid patterns of pool tiles. This contrast conveyed the tension between the fluidity of nature and the static nature of human-made structures. My Pool and Terrace (1983) challenged his notion further, as he used unusually simple lines to infer ripples in the water. Further pared back lines demarcate the composition, though Hockney still convinces us of his surroundings. Where photography could not, lithography’s more human element engenders movement and dynamism.

David Hockney’s pool-related works owe much to the stylistic innovations of early 20th-century artists, particularly Henri Matisse and Jean Dubuffet. He draws considerable influence from them, especially in their use of bold, swirling lines and simplified forms to convey movement and abstraction.

Henri Matisse’s vibrant colour palette and fluid, curving lines were key influences on Hockney’s approach to space and form. Matisse’s ability to distil complex scenes into harmonious, sculptural compositions resonates in Hockney’s treatment of the pool as both a literal and abstract space. In his lithographs and pool paintings, Hockney channels Matisse’s sense of fluidity, using lines that undulate and swirl to evoke the movement of water. The curves in Hockney’s pools mirror Matisse’s organic shapes, while Hockney’s bold contrasts and saturated colours echo Matisse’s distinctive use of colour.

Dubuffet, known for his focus on raw, unrefined forms, also influenced Hockney. His tendency to break down natural forms into expressive, sometimes chaotic shapes can be seen in Hockney’s more abstract depictions of water and reflection. Rather than striving for photographic realism, Hockney emphasizes texture and energy, much like Dubuffet, capturing water’s ever-changing, unpredictable nature. This dynamic approach to form conveys the fluidity of water, portraying it as something continually in motion rather than static or fixed.

David Hockney’s swimming pool paintings, renowned for their vibrant colours and dynamic compositions, hold a deeper, more complex significance. While associated with leisure, Hockney himself emphasized that beneath the playful aesthetic of these pools lies a more introspective and darker side. The 1970s marked the end of his relationship with Peter Schlesinger, who had been a central figure in Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures). Marco Livingstone notes that in the works that followed, Hockney’s paintings reflect an unconscious obsession with objects connected to Peter as symbols of his absence. The still, undisturbed pools in these later works—often devoid of human presence—evoke a sense of isolation and emotional void.

The vacant scenes, with their still diving boards and calm water, carry a sense of solitude reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s paintings, where empty spaces suggest emotional distance. Pool Made With Paper and Blue Ink for Book (1980) captures this isolation perfectly. Hockney zooms in on the water, almost entirely excluding the poolside from view. In doing so, he strips away any hint of human presence, leaving only the lone diving board, standing empty and silent.

Hockney’s exploration of water in these works laid the foundation for his later experiments with Cubism and abstraction. In 1988, after moving to Malibu, he described the Pacific Ocean as ‘the largest swimming pool in the world.’ This new environment deepened his ongoing exploration of water, both as a literal and metaphorical space, influencing his later abstract landscapes like Rampant (1991), and further refining his artistic language.

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