Serpentine North welcomes one of Britain’s most celebrated artists, David Hockney, for a major exhibition titled A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting. Running from 12th March to 23rd August 2026, the free exhibition marks Hockney’s first presentation at the Serpentine and brings his monumental frieze A Year in Normandie to London for the first time.
Alongside the panoramic work – originally created on an iPad during 2020 – visitors will encounter a new series of still lifes and portraits depicting the artist’s close circle. Together, these works reveal Hockney’s enduring fascination with perception, time and the everyday rhythms of the natural world, inviting audiences to slow down and see anew.
The exhibition unveils a new body of work by the celebrated British artist, comprising five still lifes alongside five portraits that depict members of the artist’s close circle, including his family and carers. These paintings are united by their frontal composition and by the recurring motif of a gingham tablecloth that provides the setting for each composition. In these new works Hockney combines abstract and figurative modes of representation. For the artist, all figurative painting is inherently abstract, so long as it exists upon a flat surface.
Accompanying the exhibition, Serpentine presents a large-scale printed mural by David Hockney in the garden at Serpentine North. The work highlights a scene from A Year in Normandie’s spring cycle depicting a tree house. The monumental digital print is displayed at the back of the North Gallery, echoing its creation in David Hockney’s own garden in Normandy.
I have always believed that art should be a deep pleasure…There is always, everywhere, an enormous amount of suffering, but I believe that my duty as an artist is to overcome and alleviate the sterility of despair… New ways of seeing mean new ways of feeling… I do believe that painting can change the world.”
David Hockney
David Hockney’s work invites us to slow down, to look closely, and to reconnect with the world around us. Presenting A Year in Normandie alongside new paintings at Serpentine North reflects our belief in making new connections between artists and audiences. We are delighted to welcome visitors to encounter these works freely, in the park.”
Bettina Korek, CEO, Serpentine
A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting also presents Hockney’s celebrated frieze, A Year in Normandie (2020-2021), which extends across the perimeter gallery of Serpentine North, charting the change of seasons at the artist’s former studio in Normandy, France.
Recommending that people slow down and notice the beauty of the world around them, Hockney believes that everyday cycles, like a sunrise, are worth celebrating. While the world came to a halt in the Spring of 2020, Hockney continued his close observations of the world around him by producing over a hundred digital paintings on his iPad, working swiftly and intuitively much like the Impressionists. The format of A Year in Normandie was inspired by Chinese scroll paintings as well as the eleventh-century Bayeux Tapestry. Hockney’s digital painting tools allowed him to capture the essence of each scene, skilfully recording changes in light and weather en plein air. His radiant compositions combine flat areas of bold colour with playful pop-like touches. As the days pass, spring transitions into summer, then autumn and winter.
We are excited to present a new exhibition by one of the world’s most important artists. At 88, David Hockney continues to explore the language of painting with remarkable ingenuity, fusing figurative and abstract modes across still lifes, portraits, and a panoramic frieze comprising more than 100 iPad paintings. In his new portraits, he captures not only his sitters but also the very act of seeing, while the frieze offers a deeply personal meditation on the passage of time. The changing seasons will resonate throughout the gallery and a new mural in the garden of Serpentine North highlights the transition from spring to summer as the surrounding landscape undergoes its own renewal.”
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting is at Serpentine North from 12th March to 23rd August 2026.
Find more information here.
