David Hockney meets the Housewife of Beverly Hills

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

David Hockney is known for his paintings of large size that represent the villas and swimming pools in California. He is one of the artists of the Pop Art. His geometric figures make of his work a following of classic architectural drawings, but his purpose is art and not construction.

He thus became a witness to the lifestyle of the owners of Beverly Hills. Incidentally, it was clever from this young British to go there to excite the dream of life of the wealthy Californian establishment. In 1966-1967, he painted as a diptych the "Beverly Hills Housewife," with total dimensions of 3.6 x 1.8 m. The villa is the main topic. The terrace is sunny, an empty lounge chair is waiting for a visitor. An alignment of windows gives an idea of the depth of the building. But the focal point is the lady of the house welcoming us in a long pink dress.

A rare interest in this work is that it demonstrates the meeting between the artist and his collector, Betty Freeman, who kept the painting. It is the top lot of her collection, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, and is estimated $ 7 million.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Christie's sold there an artwork that was very important in the career of the artist, and of very large size. The success came, for $ 7.9 million including expenses.

The lower estimate, which I once saw at $ 7 million, had been carefully confirmed at $ 6 million. The market, very looking for vendors, did not hesitate to exceed this estimate.