• Humans have always been drawn to water, with over half the global population living within 3 kilometres of an ocean, lake, river or sea. It is no surprise that we have depicted swimming, diving and bathing in artworks since the palaeolithic era. As more and more people began living in urban environments at the turn of the 20th century, man-made swimming pools moved into cities, towns and homes. At the dawn of this Modern era, pools also got the Modern art treatment, captivating some of the world’s greatest artists, such as Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, David Hockney and Howard Hodgkin.  
  • Henri Matisse

    Henri Matisse

    At the age of 82, Matisse’s favourite communal swimming pool in the South of France provided him a source of inspiration that would lead to the creation of some of his best loved images. One morning in the summer of 1952, Matisse told his studio assistant Lydia Delectorskaya that "he wanted to see divers." Setting up at a swimming pool in Cannes, the artist became uncomfortable in the fierce heat and decided that he would create his own pool at home. 

     

    Back at his apartment in the Hôtel Régina in Nice, he asked Lydia to hang a ring of white paper at just above head height around the walls of the dining room. The paper was only interrupted by the door and windows at opposite ends of the room. The walls had been lined in raw burlap fabric, a popular wall covering during the 1950s. Upon this base Matisse proceeded to assemble a vibrant cast of swimmers, divers and sea creatures out of cut sheets of paper that had previously been painted with ultramarine blue gouache. To him, the flexibility of paper was a perfect approximation of the fluidity of water. 

     

    The door and windows in the dining room split the composition into two halves, and when the lithograph was published the mural was represented as two separate prints: La Piscine I and La Piscine II (1958). 

  •  

     

  • David Hockney David Hockney

    David Hockney

    A survey of swimming pools would not be complete without David Hockney, an artist captivated by water and the challenge of depicting an ultimately colourless and formless object. He took inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s swirling aquatic studies, Monet’s water lilies and, of course, Matisse’s cut-out masterpiece, La Piscine (1952). Whether in paint, ink, graphite or photography, swimming pools provided Hockney with an opportunity to explore this elusive theme. 

     

    Hockney produced his first series of pool paintings in the 1960s following a visit to California, the best known being A Bigger Splash (1967) now housed at the Tate, London. While in California, Hockney was surprised by the prevalence of swimming pools; in England, a private pool was the height of luxury, but in LA they served as a necessary antidote to the heat.

  • In 1978, Hockney visited the home and studio of printmaker Ken Tyler in upstate New York where he was introduced... In 1978, Hockney visited the home and studio of printmaker Ken Tyler in upstate New York where he was introduced...

    In 1978, Hockney visited the home and studio of printmaker Ken Tyler in upstate New York where he was introduced to a new medium and a new swimming pool. Tyler delighted in sharing an innovative process that he had developed which involved mixing dyes with paper pulps to embed images into the very page itself. Hockney set about making a series of 29 Paper Pools (1978) in this new medium, selecting Tyler’s swimming pool as his subject matter. The series examined the pool at different times of day, tracing how light and shadow played with reflections on the surface of the water.  

     

    A book was produced in 1980 about the series, and a lithograph to accompany it. Much like paper pulp, lithography is a medium indebted to ink, water and paper, so Hockney found it a suitable technique. The lithograph is a tour-de-force of printmaking, hand drawn and printed in six colours from three lithographic limestones and three aluminium plates. Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink for Book (1980) is now one of Hockney’s most sought after editions, and with good reason. 

  • Click to See the Swimming Pool Collection
  • Howard Hodgkin

    Howard Hodgkin

    In 1979, Howard Hodgkin and Peter Blake were invited to stay with David Hockney at his home in California. The trip proved stimulating for both artists who each produced works inspired by their summer spent in Los Angeles.  

     

    That year, Hodgkin worked on an etching and aquatint featuring Hockney’s iconic kidney shaped swimming pool. The plate was printed in colour and in monotone to create two separate editions, David’s Pool and David’s Pool at Night (1979-85). Each was proofed by Aldo Crommelynck and printed at his Atelier in Paris, in 1985. Hand colouring was applied by Cinda Sparling, New York, in 1985 and they were published as initialled limited editions of 100.  

     

    Over thirty years after his first foray into swimming pools, Hodgkin returned to the theme as one of twelve artists commissioned to create artworks for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Deceptive in its simplicity, Hodgkin’s Swimming (2011) comprises of 12 hand-pulled colour silkscreens using ground pigments from L. Cornelissen, light-fast ultramarine blue dark, ultramarine blue light and cobalt blue. They were further hand ground into the UV binder with a Srab and Muller and then applied to the print, layer by layer. The fluid lines and pooling blue pigments capture beautifully the movement of water and sensation of swimming.  

  • Fernand Léger

    Fernand Léger

    Fernand Léger was an artist seeking to capture the dynamism of modern life through a visual language that was accessible. He believed that art should enrich the lives of all. One of the ways in which Léger achieved this was by depicting scenes of the everyday, elevating the ordinary to the realms of “fine art”. Among his most celebrated works are those illustrating leisure activities such as people playing card games, cycling and swimming.  

     

    Fleeing the Second World War during the occupation of France, Léger sailed for New York. His ship departed from Marseille in September 1940 and, while waiting to board, he watched a group of dock workers diving and swimming in the waters below. This image provided the inspiration for the artist’s Les Plongeurs (The Divers) (1942) series.  

     

    Featuring tangles of bodies thickly outlined in black and pools of vibrant colour, Les Plongeurs reinvented Léger’s art in a way that would come to define his post war style. He would go on to create over 20 different artworks featuring scenes of diving, swimming and pools.  

    • David Hockney, Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink for Book (Paper Pools), 1980
      David Hockney, Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink for Book (Paper Pools), 1980
      £ 19,750.00
      Enquire
    • Fernand Leger, La Ville: La Piscine, 1959
      Fernand Leger, La Ville: La Piscine, 1959
      £ 1,950.00
      Enquire
    • Howard Hodgkin, Swimming, 2011
      Howard Hodgkin, Swimming, 2011
      £ 6,950.00
      Enquire
    • Henri Matisse, La Piscine I, 1958
      Henri Matisse, La Piscine I, 1958
      £ 1,200.00
      Enquire
    • Henri Matisse, La Piscine II, 1958
      Henri Matisse, La Piscine II, 1958
      Enquire