DAVID HOCKNEY: THE MOON ROOM
GALERIE LELONG is pleased to present The Moon Room an exhibition by David Hockney.
March 19 - May 7, 2026
April 2020. David Hockney was spending lockdown at his home in Normandy, in the Pays d’Auge region. In the middle of the night, he was awakened by an unusual light: through his window, he saw a magnificent full moon, larger and closer than usual. Without hesitation, he grabbed his iPad and sketched what he saw from his window.
It just so happened that the artist had just read Maupassant’s wonderful short story, "Clair de lune", which is set in the same landscape. That was all it took for Hockney to decide to begin a series of works: painting every full moon throughout the year. The result is 15 night-time landscapes spanning from April 8th to December 5th, 2020. On the night of October 31st, Hockney produced five drawings, this time changing his viewpoint: he left his window and went out into the garden. We can see the façade of the house with its lit up windows and the moon moving across the sky, from evening to morning. The last work in this series features Christmas decorations and an illuminated tree.
This collection of iPad paintings was first shown at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen in 2024, then at the Fondation Louis Vuitton last year. Each work was printed on paper in the artist’s studio and then mounted on aluminium. Fifteen copies were printed, numbered and signed.
"A Year in Normandie", the huge fresco inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, will be on display at the Serpentine Gallery in London from March 12th, along with his latest paintings.
David Hockney studied at Bradford College of Art, then at the Royal College of Art in London, where he graduated in 1962. In London, his personality stood out on the art scene. In 1963, he left for New York, but it was California that captivated him. A symbol of the American Dream, this state would become a major inspiration: there he discovered another life, one with beautiful villas and swimming pools as well as a burgeoning gay community, which he joined openly. In 1973, Jack Hazan made A Bigger Splash, a semi-fictional documentary that cemented Hockney’s international reputation.
Hockney draws inspiration from his immediate environment: his family and friends, the landscapes surrounding him, and the artists he admires. He rejects abstract and conceptual art and does not wish to be pigeonholed in any “school”. Taking advantage of new tools to explore other artistic avenues, he is eminently responsive to new technology: from fax and photocopy to iPhone, iPad, computers and video.
In 2017, for Hockney’s 80th birthday, a retrospective began at Tate Britain, London, and travelled to the Centre Pompidou in Paris and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 2025, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris hosted his largest exhibition to date.
Hockney’s work is seen all around the world, for instance at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia); Louisiana Museum of Art (Humlebæk, Denmark); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (United States); Museum Ludwig (Cologne, Germany); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, United States); Musée national d’Art moderne (Paris, France); Museo Tamayo (Mexico City, Mexico); Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, United States); Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, United States); National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C., United States); National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia); National Portrait Gallery (London, UK); Royal Academy of Arts (London, UK); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (United States); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (United States); Tate Galleries (London, UK); British Museum (London, UK).
Galerie Lelong has exhibited David Hockney’s work regularly since 2001.