On ne reporte pas le printemps : David Hockney en Normandie

Water not only transmits movement in the form of ripples and waves, it is also a medium that affects light, refracting and reflecting it. That’s why Monet had such a huge subject in his water lilies, one that retained his interest for more than twenty-five years. In his garden ponds, he had water to paint, but also the sky, plants, light and darkness, reflected trees and clouds: in a way, the whole world was there. A pool is a natural mirror – French such a decorative tank in a park is known as a miroir d’eau. And so pictures of water are part of a larger category: representions of transparency. Hockney has always described this as a “nice problem” and a “graphic challenge”. A transparent object such as a piece of glass is simultaneously there and not there. You can focus on it as a three-dimensional object, or alternatively you can look through it or contemplate the reflections on its surface. It therefore also has some of the same characteristics as a picture. It is at once both a thing itself, and a medium through which you can view other things.