A History of Pictures

I won’t read a more interesting book all year … utterly fascinating * A. N. Wilson, Sunday Times *
A magic flight of a book … It’s a measure of Hockney’s vividness of perception that he can always put a cap on Gayford’s knowledge … Fabulous! * Clive James, Guardian *
Hockney asks big questions about the nature of picture-making and the relationship between painters and photography in a way that no other contemporary artist seems to do … Enormously good-humoured and entertaining … On almost every page, there is an interesting provocation * Andrew Marr, New Statesman *
An eloquent conversational testimony to the vividness of life lived through intelligent looking. You will see Caravaggio and Citizen Kane with fresh eyes * Daily Telegraph *
Crisps up perceptions and help readers to look anew * The Times *

David Hockney (1937-2026) was one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. He produced work in almost every medium - painting, drawing, stage design, photography and printmaking - and stretched the boundaries of all of them. His groundbreaking Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters is published by Thames & Hudson, as are his books in partnership with Martin Gayford: A Bigger Message (2011), A History of Pictures (2016) and Spring Cannot be Cancelled (2021). Thames & Hudson also published the catalogue of his blockbuster exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2025.

Martin Gayford is a writer and art critic. His books include Man with a Blue Scarf (in which he recounts the experience of being painted by Lucian Freud); Modernists and Mavericks; Spring Cannot be Cancelled, with David Hockney; Shaping the World: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now, with Antony Gormley; Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud, 1939-1954, with David Dawson; and How Painting Happens, all published by Thames & Hudson.

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