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Tate Britain hosts a major retrospective on David Hockney, starting this month.

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Words by Emily Martin

This month see’s an extensive retrospective of David Hockney’s work, open at Tate Britain.

Hockney turns 80 this year and the exhibition marks the occasion with an overview of the artist’s work to date. Being widely regarded as one of the most successful and recognisable artists of our time, this exhibition will celebrate Hockney’s achievement in painting, drawing, print, photography and video, presented as a chronological overview of his career to date.

Works on display will trace Hockney’s artistic development: from his appearance on the public stage as a student in 1961, through to his iconic works of the Sixties and Seventies, and on to his recent success at the Royal Academy and beyond. The exhibition will showcase early works such as Love paintings (1960-61) and Self Portrait with Blue Guitar (1977); Hockney’s celebrated Yorkshire landscapes of the 2000s and work done in California, where he has lived on and off for the past 30 years.

Hockney’s art is one of the great landmarks of post-modernism, using parody and self-reflection, and playing with representation and artifice. This really is a show not to be missed.