380 Quotes by David Hockney

I believe that the problem of how you depict something is a formal problem. It’s an interesting one and it’s a permanent one; there’s no solution to it. There are a thousand and one ways you can go about it. There’s no set rule.

The ‘how’ has a great effect on what we see. To say that ‘what we see’ is more important than ‘how we see it’ is to think that ‘how’ has been settled and fixed. When you realize this is not the case, you realize that ‘how’ often affects ‘what’ we see.

I actually think the deafness makes you see clearer. If you can’t hear, you somehow see.

And then I went round the corner and there’s a Van Gogh portrait, and you just think, well, this is another level. A higher level, actually. I love the Sargent, but it’s not the level of Van Gogh.

I can see that cinema seems to be finished. Everybody has a bigger screen at home. I’m assuming eventually you won’t need a screen at all – these iPhones will just project.

Picasso is still influencing me. Of course, I haven’t got that kind of energy, or skill.

I haven’t stopped painting or drawing – I’ve just added another medium.

I’ve always been interested in space in pictures. I think my going deaf increased my spatial sense, because I can’t get the direction of sound. I feel that I see space very clearly, and that’s because I can’t hear it. So it’s a compensatory thing.

The problem is, photographic dyes and printing inks aren’t as good as paint, actually.