Painted from his little beach house home in Malibu, David Hockney names this wonderful painting simply ‘Breakfast at Malibu, Wednesday’. Unfortunately, my Wednesday breakfast didn’t live up to this view, but how I would love to wake up to this painting on my wall every morning (if I had a spare 1,800,000 dollars (valued in 2017)).
The emotional charge of the image is extraordinary, generated, in part, by contrast – between the elegant blue and white china and the swirling blue and white waves. The perspective is remarkable, collapsing distinctions between interior and exterior. The great Henri Matisse, is clearly a big influence.
British born, this Malibu hideaway is a far cry from the grey and gritty streets of Bradford where Hockney grew up.
Two further paintings show this same home in different lights and moods: ‘Beach House by Day, 1990’ and then ‘Beach House by Night, 1990’
What a magical series of paintings – what a masterful capturing of place.
Now 88 years old, Hockney is still as restless as those waves, still in love with life:
