David Hockney on his exhibition with Van Gogh: ‘When you look at the world, there’s so much to see’

The 81-year-old artist speaks to William Cook about exhibiting his Yorkshire landscapes alongside ‘one of the great, great draughtsmen of all time’, the teachers who tried to discourage him from becoming an artist and how technology lets him paint the sunrise without ever leaving his bed

The Peter Pan of Pop Art? (AFP/Getty)

In the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam, around the corner from the Van Gogh Museum, Britain’s greatest living artist is talking about his latest one-man show. Actually, it’s a two-man show: most of the landscape paintings in this exhibition are by David Hockney, but they’re juxtaposed with landscapes by one of his great artistic heroes: Vincent van Gogh.

“He’s one of the great, great draughtsmen of all time,”Hockney, fielding questions from a crowd of journalists, who’ve flown in from all around the world. “The drawings are fantastic – he could see space very clearly.” And the paintings are something else. “Van Gogh is telling us that there’s a marvellous world in your own back garden. You just have to look at it – really look. I think that’s his message. It’s thrilling if you really look.”

Hockney is wearing a natty flat cap and a lime green cardigan – he’s always been a stylish dresser. He seems cheerful and contented – he’s always been comfortable in his own skin. However he looks older and frailer than he did a few years ago, and he talks a lot more slowly. This should come as no surprise – he is 81, after all – but somehow it’s still a shock. With his boyish good looks, he was the Peter Pan of Pop Art. Even in late middle age, he seemed a lot younger than his years. Now he finally looks his age, but we should be thankful he’s still alive and still painting. If Van Gogh had lived as long as Hockney, he would have still been alive in the 1930s.