David Hockney's private funeral held in London after death at 88

David Hockney was laid to rest in a private funeral in London, attended only by his long-time partner Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima and his great-nephew Richard Hockney. The tightly held farewell matched the restraint that often marked the artist’s personal life, even as his work reached far beyond Britain.

Hockney died at his home in London on 11 June 2026 at the age of 88, one month short of his 89th birthday. Erica Bolton, his publicist, confirmed the funeral details and said the family had been overwhelmed by the tributes that followed his death. Those tributes came from across the art world, as well as from the prime minister and senior members of the Royal Family.

Across a seven-decade career, Hockney became one of Britain’s most recognisable and influential artists, working in painting, collage, photography and digital drawing. His name was tied to some of the most enduring images in modern British art, including The Splash, A Bigger Splash and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), works that helped define his public reputation as both a formal innovator and a chronicler of contemporary life.

The private funeral also reflected the structure of Hockney’s closest circle in later years. Alongside Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima and Richard Hockney, who acted as a studio assistant in his later years, his surviving family includes his brothers Philip and John, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. Memorial services are expected to take place from next year, extending the public reckoning with an artist whose final chapter, like much of his career, remained carefully under his own control.