20th of April, 2020 N1

Painted in the spring of 2020, this cheerful scene comes from David Hockney's time at his home in Normandy, France, where he spent the lockdown months capturing the changing seasons around him. Using an iPad as his canvas, the British artist filled his days drawing the same landscape over and over, watching how the light and colors shifted as the year went on. Here we see a sunlit path of yellow stretching toward a green meadow, a single tree on the left, and the edge of his stone farmhouse on the right with a few potted plants tucked into the corner.

Hockney, who is one of the most beloved artists of our time, has always loved bright color and the simple joy of looking closely at the world. You can see that here in the dotted, almost playful way he paints the grass and the gravel, with tiny flecks of yellow scattered across the path like confetti. The sky is full of soft, puffy clouds that feel almost like a child's drawing in the best possible way. There is nothing grand or dramatic about this view, and that is exactly the point. It is a quiet record of an ordinary morning, made during a strange and uncertain time, reminding us that beauty is often right outside the door.