David Hockney's “ The Splash “ expected to Bank $39 Million at Auction

Credit: Sothebys

”The Splash”

Previously mentioned at this platform, but then  in a context of coffee table books, David Hockney is back here but this time because of his iconic painting “The Splash”. The work is heading to Sotheby’s auction and on February 11, it’s expected to fetch between £20 million and £30 million, which is quite an increase since the last time it was sold, in 2006. At that time, the painting fetched £2.9 million.

The artwork from 1966 depicts a splash in a Californian swimming pool and was a result of Hockney’s fascination for the atmosphere of the state. That lead the British artist, in 1976, to even set up his permanent living in California with residences in both Hollywood Hills and Malibu.

Apart, from this now ”buyable (if you are having £30 million to spare” painting, there are also two other companions to it: ”A Little Splash” and the world famous ”A Bigger Splash”.

Although you would think that an estimated fetch of £20- £30 million for ”The Splash” would be some kind of record, it is in fact not even close to what his painting ”Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” was sold for in 2018. The artwork was sold for $90 million at Christie’s in New York and made Hockney, at that time (now passed by Jeff Koons), the world’s highest selling now living artist.