The abstract artist passed away peacefully in a London hospital today
It comes as sad news that today (9 March), Sir Howard Hodgkin passed “peacefully in hospital in London”.
A key figure in the contemporary art scene for over 50 years, the painter and printmaker was born in 1932 and has made some incredible achievements during his lifetime.
Beginning his career in the 60s, his breakthrough came in the 70s. The artist is best known for his colourful palette, his ability to portray intimate meetings and conversations with friends through abstract art, and his explorations of India. Up until last year, he was still producing visuals by creating the set and costumes for the ballet show Layla and Majnun, which is performed by the Mark Morris Dance Company.
Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, remembers the artist: “His characteristic subject, the memory of a meeting or a conversation with a friend, resulted in paintings that radiate the emotions of life: love, anger, vanity, beauty, and companionship.”
“Howard Hodgkin was one of the great artists and colourists of his generation. His sensuous, intense paintings were infused with his love and understanding of late 19th-century French painting, especially Degas, Vuillard and Bonnard, and by his feeling for the heat and colours of India, which he visited on many occasions.”
In 1984, he represented Britain at the art world’s coveted Venice Biennale. Furthermore, the influential icon won the 1985 Turner Prize, and was knighted in 1992. And additionally, in 2003, Sir Howard Hodgkin was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as a Companion of Honour.
Extending beyond art, the contemporary figure was listed as an influential gay individual in the Independent’s 2006 article Gay Power: The pink list.
