David Hockney|My Normandy (Ma Normandie)

The series is Hockney's editioned record of his first two years in Normandy. He arrived in March 2019 and settled into a 17th-century half-timbered house, with a studio fitted out in the adjoining barn. The Impressionists had passed over such houses, he noted, but he saw in them an echo of the Dutch cottages painted by Rembrandt and the young Van Gogh.

Drawn in ink

Eleven of the prints reproduce ink drawings from 2019. 'Ink Test' carries the dates 19th to 21st March in its full title, which places it in his first days in Normandy. 'In Front of House Looking North', 'In Front of House Looking South', 'In Front of House Looking East' and 'In Front of House Looking West' take one view of the house from each side. 'In the Studio', 'Spilt Ink' and 'Ruby Dreaming' turn to the barn studio; Ruby was his dog. 'Study of the Entrance' relates to 'The Entrance', a 2019 painting on two canvases. 'Beuvron-en-Auge Panorama' lays out the roads, buildings and trees of the village, and 'Hawthorn Bush in Front of a Very Old and Dying Pear Tree' is the only one of the eleven on a portrait sheet.

The iPad prints

Three prints come from iPad drawings of 2020 and turn indoors, to hearth and home. 'A Bigger Fire' shows the hearth alight and 'No Fire' shows it cold, with ash left in the grate. 'Glass Vase, Jug and Wheat' is a still life of wheat in a jug. All three belong to his wider 'iPad Drawings'.

The friezes and the Bayeux Tapestry

'Autour de la Maison, Été' and 'Autour de la Maison, Hiver' take their long form from the Bayeux Tapestry, the embroidery that tells the story of the Norman conquest of England. Hockney went back to Bayeux to see it in October 2018, and its power as a narrative reminded him of Chinese scrolls. Like the tapestry, the friezes show time passing through repetition along their length.

Before and after

After these prints the iPad took over. In 2020 Hockney recorded the spring in Normandy day by day on it, and the frieze returned on a far larger scale in 'A Year in Normandie', a panorama of the four seasons shown at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris from October 2021.

Auction results

At Phillips London in September 2026, 'Autour de la Maison, Été' sold for £193,500. Of the smaller prints, 'In the Studio' made £104,240 at Roseberys in London in February 2026. 'A Bigger Fire' sold for £69,300 at Phillips London in June 2022 and for £58,050 there in September 2025. All four figures include fees.