Portrait of David Hockney painted by Lucian Freud sells for nearly £15 million

A portrait of painter David Hockney by the artist Lucian Freud has sold for almost £15million at auction.

The painting – which has not been seen in public since Freud’s 2012 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery – sold above estimate for £14.9million at Sotheby’s in London today.

The oil on canvas was pursued by five collectors, bidding on the telephone via Sotheby’s representatives in New York, London and Asia. 

Yorkshireman Hockney, 83, spent 120 hours sitting for the famous portrait in 2002, at the height of Freud’s career in the months leading up to his critically acclaimed retrospective at Tate Britain.

But Hockney was prevented from buying it because Freud’s New York dealer, William Acquavella, wanted to keep it.

It is not known if Hockney himself was among the bidders this time.

He then sold the work to a private collector, and it was hidden from public view until a 2005 exhibition in Venice and then a further two in 2012, including one at London‘s National Portrait Gallery. 

It is  considered to be one of the most masterful peer-to-peer portraits ever committed to canvas.

The duo first met in 1962 but Freud did not paint his friend until 40 years later, when Freud was almost 80 and considered to be Britain’s greatest living painter.

It shows Hockney’s face close up and mid-thought as he peers over his round spectacles.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile sitters and subjects painted by the artist, including the Queen and Kate Moss.

During the sittings the pair would gossip, drink tea and talk about art while Hockney smoked, which was permitted by Freud, as long as Hockney did not tell Moss, who had been denied the same privilege during her own sittings.

Hockney has previously recalled sitting for the painting amid the ‘old-fashioned bohemia’ of Freud’s flat, where they shared ‘bitchy art-world gossip’.

He has praised the final work, comparing it to works by the French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne. 

‘It’s not me; it’s an account of looking at me by a very intelligent and skilled painter,’ he said. ‘That’s what a Cézanne portrait is — an account of looking.’

In a biography of Freud, who died in 2011 aged 88, author William Feaver said he believed Hockney’s ‘resentment’ at not being able to buy the work was a matter for his dealer William Acquavella, ‘not him’. 

In Breakfast with Lucian, a 2013 book by DailyMail editor Geordie Greig, Hockney described the four months in 2002 when he sat every day for his friend.

‘Sometimes I was early and he would leap up the stairs two at a time. No slouch at 80. He never wanted to be seen as inactive,’ Hockney said of Freud.

Describing his flat, he said: ‘I liked the old-fashioned bohemia of it all.

‘The plates with old beans on them from the last night, or even last week — it was like student days, very appealing, very appealing after all those very clean New York lofts.’ 

Hockney’s newest piece of art – a digital sunrise sequence – was broadcast simultaneously on billboards worldwide in May.

The six image sequence appeared on digital billboards in New York, London, Tokyo, and Seoul.

It was created by Hockney on an iPad during lockdown and represents a message of hope and collaboration as the world emerges from the pandemic. 

The piece, titled, ‘Remember, you cannot look at the sun or death for very long’, was drawn by Hockney in the early mornings in Normandy, France, where he has lived since 2019.

The two and a half minute sequence transforms from a dark scene with long shadows to a brilliant image of bright sun rays spread dramatically across the scenery.

The world-renowned artist started experimenting with drawing on an iPad in 2009, and has praised the medium for not requiring an extensive clean up.

‘No cleaning up needed’, he told the New York Times, ‘and I can always draw at a moment’s notice.’

The famous artist started drawing digital with his thumb on an iPhone before shifting to using a stylus pen on the new released iPad.

‘There was great advantage in this medium because it’s backlit and I could draw in the dark. I didn’t ever have to get out of bed,’ said the artist.

He has now produced hundreds of paintings, portraits, and still lifes, on the Apple product.