The work of David Hockney (born Bradford, United Kingdom, 1937) is characterized by his use of a very wide range of techniques and materials. The works in the Hortensia Herrero collection are a good illustration of this. On the one hand, there is one of his most iconic works: The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods. In this video creation, comprising thirty-six videos presented on thirty-six synchronised screens, the artist films the woods of East Yorkshire from a car equipped with nine cameras, which travel the same route at four different times of year. The complete work consists of four panels, with nine screens for each season, which the viewer can watch at the same time, thus seeing how the landscape changes over the course of the year.
The arrival of spring in Woldgate, in East Yorkshire, is also the subject of another two works by Hockney belonging to the Hortensia Herrero collection, created with an iPad, a technique he has begun to work with recently that reflects his interest in new technologies.
On the other hand, the collection also includes Autour de la Maison, Été (Around the House, Summer) and Autour de la Maison, Hiver (Around the House, Winter) (both 2019), in which Hockney once again captures the differences in the same landscape during winter and summer. In this case, however, it is the surroundings of his house in Normandy. Although in these works Hockney does not paint the sky – because, as he himself says, it changes too quickly – we can clearly perceive the difference between one season and another from the colours. Both in these two pieces and in The Four Seasons the narrator is at the centre of the work; you cannot see him, but you sense his presence.
