Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)

This is a big painting. It shows a blue pool. One man swims under the water. Another man stands at the edge. He looks down at the swimmer.

The artist is named David Hockney. He loved to paint pools. He saw many pools in California. This painting was made in 1972. It shows hills in the back.

He worked very hard on it. He worked for many hours each day. He used many photos to help. The painting sold for a lot of money. It was a record for him.

David Hockney is a famous British artist. He made a large painting in 1972. It is called Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures).

The painting shows a blue swimming pool. One man swims under the water in white trunks. Another man stands at the edge. This man is Peter Schlesinger. He was a friend and a muse to Hockney. A muse is a person who gives an artist ideas. The man at the edge wears a pink jacket. He looks down at the swimmer. In the back, you can see green hills.

Hockney worked very hard to finish this art. He worked 18 hours a day for two weeks. He used many photos to help him. He even flew to France to see a real pool. He wanted to see how the water looked.

This painting is very special. In 2018, it sold for $90.3 million. That was a record for a living artist. People pay a lot of money for his beautiful work.

David Hockney is a famous British artist. He created a large painting called "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" in May 1972. This pop art piece uses acrylic paint on a large canvas. It is a very important work because it combines two of Hockney's favorite themes. One theme is the swimming pool, which he loved after visiting California. The other theme is the double portrait. The painting shows two men in a scene set near Saint-Tropez in southern France. It captures a quiet, thoughtful moment between the two figures.

To make this painting, Hockney followed a very careful way of working. He used many photographs to help him get the details right. He looked at photos of a man swimming underwater in California. He also used photos of Peter Schlesinger, his former lover and muse. Schlesinger is the man standing at the edge of the pool. He wears a pink jacket and looks down at the swimmer. Hockney even flew to France to see a real pool at a villa. He wanted to see exactly how the water looked in that light. He worked with an assistant and a photographer to recreate the poses.

This painting has a long and interesting history. Hockney first started working on it in late 1971. However, he did not like the way the pool looked at first. He decided to stop and start the whole thing over again. He spent much of 1972 working very hard to escape his unhappiness. He often worked for 14 or 15 hours every single day. He finished the painting just one night before it had to be sent to New York. It was first shown to the public in May 1972. This was a very productive time for his art career.

Many people have owned this famous painting over the years. In 1972, it was sold for $18,000 to a couple. Later, the billionaire David Geffen bought it in 1983. In November 2018, the painting was sold at an auction in New York City. It sold for $90.3 million in only nine minutes. At that time, this was the highest price ever paid for a painting by a living artist. This sale broke the previous record held by Jeff Koons. It also tripled the record for a painting by Hockney himself.

Even today, people still notice this artwork in different places. It has even influenced modern stories and music. For example, a painting in the show "BoJack Horseman" is based on this work. An album cover by the artist Mr. Oizo also uses a new version of this idea. The painting connects to very old traditions of art from the Renaissance. Those older artists also liked to paint people bathing in nature. Hockney's work brings those old ideas into a bright, modern style. It remains a powerful way to look at love and memory.

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) is a significant pop art painting by British artist David Hockney. Completed in May 1972, this large acrylic-on-canvas work explores complex human emotions through a bright, modern lens. The painting combines two of Hockney's most important recurring themes: the swimming pool and the double portrait. It depicts a scene set in southern France, specifically near Saint-Tropez. One figure swims underwater in white trunks, while a second man stands at the pool's edge. This second figure is Peter Schlesinger, who was Hockney's former lover and muse.

The composition of the painting emerged from a unique, accidental discovery. Hockney noticed two different photographs lying on his studio floor. One photo showed a man swimming underwater in California from 1966. The other showed a man standing and looking toward the ground. When placed together, it appeared the standing man was watching the swimmer. This juxtaposition allowed Hockney to merge separate ideas into one cohesive scene. He used a characteristic style that simplified the foreground and flattened the perspective. In the background, he painted tree-clad hills to provide a sense of place.

Hockney's creative process for this work was intense and highly organized. He initially began working on the painting in late 1971. However, he became dissatisfied with the composition and the angle of the pool. He abandoned the work and traveled for several months before returning in early 1972. To prepare, Hockney flew to the south of France to study real water. He used the pool at a villa called Le Nid du Duc to visualize the underwater figure. He even used a studio assistant, Mo McDermott, to recreate the pose of the standing man. A photographer named John St Clair acted as the swimmer for these studies.

After gathering visual data, Hockney returned to his London studio to assemble the final image. He used hundreds of photographs to guide his hand. He combined these with photos of Peter Schlesinger wearing a specific pink jacket. Hockney worked with incredible intensity during this final stage. He often worked 18-hour days to complete the piece. He finished and varnished the painting just one night before its shipment to New York. This period of work was part of a very productive year for him. He often worked 14 or 15 hours a day to escape personal unhappiness.

The painting carries deep emotional weight regarding Hockney's personal life. His relationship with Schlesinger had ended abruptly following a fight in Cadaqués in 1971. Some art historians suggest the painting acts as an acknowledgment of lost love. By showing a new young man swimming toward Peter, the artist may be reflecting on his boyfriend's desire for a new partner. This theme of bathing connects the work to a long European tradition. Since the Renaissance, artists have depicted the nude bathing in nature to represent peace. Hockney brings this historical concept into a contemporary, pop art setting.

The financial history of the painting is as remarkable as its creation. In 1972, it was originally sold to James Colonsay Langhorne Astor and his wife for $18,000. It later passed to billionaire David Geffen in 1983, and then to Joe Lewis in 1995. In November 2018, the painting achieved massive success at Christie's auction house in New York City. It sold for $90.3 million in just nine minutes of bidding. This price set a record for the highest amount ever paid for a painting by a living artist. This sale more than tripled Hockney's own previous record of $28.5 million.

Beyond the art world, the painting has left a mark on popular culture. It has served as an inspiration for various modern media projects. The American animated series BoJack Horseman features a painting in the main character's house based on this work. Additionally, the artist So Me created a deconstructed reinterpretation of the painting for the Mr. Oizo album cover, Stade 2. These connections show how Hockney's vision continues to influence visual storytelling. The painting remains a vital link between classical traditions and modern pop culture.