David Hockney’s Serpentine Exhibition Broke Attendance Records

The David Hockney exhibition “A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting,” on view at Serpentine North in London from March 12 through August 23, broke the gallery’s prior attendance records with around 300,000 visitors. This marks the best attended exhibition at the Serpentine in its 56-year history.

The exhibition ran earlier this year with free admission and marked the artist’s first presentation at the Serpentine; accompanying the exhibition is a large-scale printed mural in the garden that remains on display until September 20. The British artist died this summer on June 11 at 88 years of age. 

“David Hockney’s work invites us to slow down, to look closely, and to reconnect with the world around us,” said Bettina Korek, Serpentine’s CEO. “Presenting A Year in Normandie alongside new paintings at Serpentine North this year reflected our belief in making new connections between artists and audiences. We were delighted to welcome visitors to encounter these works freely, in the park.”

Hockney’s show featured new works, with five still lives and portraits, alongside the 300 feet frieze A Year in Normandie (2020–21). In a press statement at the time of the exhibition, the artist said that he has 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.”