187:. A shadow under the chair suggests that the sun is high in the sky, around noon. In the foreground, a yellow diving board slants away from lower right corner, leading the viewer's gaze towards the centre of a large swimming pool, where water fountains into the air, capturing the moment right after someone has dived in. The diver is not visible, presumably still under the water. The chair lies further back along the same diagonal line. A thickening in the white line atop the building's flat roof emphasizes the place where the diver has entered the water.
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in London). The canvas – almost a perfect square – is dominated by the strong vertical and horizontal lines of the trees, the building, and the edge of the pool; it is divided evenly into the sky, building and patio in the upper half, and the pool and diving board in the lower half. The rectilinear
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In a March 2009 interview for the Tate, to the question "Who jumped into the pool?" Hockney answers: "I don't know actually. It was done from a photograph of a splash. That I haven't taken, but that's what it's commenting on. The stillness of an image. (...) Most of the painting was spent on the
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composition is broken by the oblique thrust of the diving board. The calmness of the overall composition contrasts with the violent explosion of water caused by diver. Hockney has expressed his pleasure at taking two weeks to paint a moment that lasted two seconds.
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Hockney's composition is based on a photograph of a swimming pool in a book and an earlier drawing by
Hockney of Californian buildings. It was created with meticulous care, simplified, but enlarging his earlier paintings entitled
273:. The central splash was heavily worked over a period of about two weeks using a variety of small brushes. A wide border and central narrow stripe at the pool's edge are left unpainted. The border creates an effect like a
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Purchased from the
Marquis of Dufferin and Ava through the Knoedler Gallery (Grant-in-Aid) 1981 Prov: the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava (purchased from Kasmin Ltd, 1968)
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splash and the splash lasts two seconds and the building is permanent there. That's what it's about actually. You have to look in at the details."
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beside a modern house, disturbed by a large splash of water created by an unseen figure who has apparently just jumped in from a
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photograph. The painting has been viewed as a critical link in
Hockney's ruminations on time between his earlier
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shows a typical
California day – warm and sunny, with a cloudless blue sky. In the background, two
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many photographs of the same subject taken over a period of hours.
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loom over a large single-story house, with flat roof and large
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between April and June 1967, when
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A Bigger
Interior with Blue Terrace and Garden 2017
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183:with thin crossed legs stands on a wide pink
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426:Tate: The archive twitter with David Hockney
323:"A Bigger Splash: Luca Guadagnino Interview"
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301:'s gallery in 1968, and sold it to the
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464:"David Hockney A Bigger Splash 1967"
233:. Hockney uses a limited palette –
218:The painting was made using acrylic
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783:Collection of the Tate galleries
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738:David Hockney: A Bigger Picture
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631:Portrait of Sir David Webster
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778:Paintings by David Hockney
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333:15 September
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231:underdrawing
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733:(1973 film)
506:, WebMuseum
399:11 February
299:John Kasmin
271:overpainted
235:cobalt blue
224:cotton duck
222:on a white
214:Composition
195:(1966) and
164:Description
108:is a large
762:Categories
591:The Splash
491:References
369:The Splash
243:raw sienna
229:, with no
198:The Splash
173:palm trees
157:La Piscine
126:California
80:Dimensions
575:Paintings
347:WebMuseum
305:in 1981.
283:collaging
251:raw umber
203:Sotheby's
475:19 March
429:Archived
393:BBC News
372:Archived
275:Polaroid
220:Liquitex
88:Location
768:Pop art
717:Related
110:pop art
62: (
690:Prints
682:(2017)
674:(2007)
666:(1998)
658:(1998)
650:(1985)
642:(1972)
634:(1971)
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227:canvas
96:London
72:Medium
47:Artist
309:Notes
185:patio
477:2023
469:Tate
448:ISBN
401:2020
335:2016
303:Tate
293:The
261:and
64:1967
60:1967
57:Year
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