HOWARD HODGKIN

Early Years

Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin was born in London in August 1932. He wanted to be an artist at a young age—between 1940—1943 he lived in Long Island with his mother and older sister and was further inspired by seeing works by Picasso and Matisse at MoMA. Back in England, Hodgkin was sent to Eton College but ran away twice, then Bryanston School, but ran away again. In 1949 he painted Memories, which depicts an aunt lying on the couch in the Long Island house. He attended Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (1949—1950) and Bath Academy of Art, Corsham (1950—1954), where he later taught.

Howard Hodgkin: Artworks

Howard Hodgkin was celebrated for his use of colour and gesture. Using board rather than canvas—“A firm surface won’t answer back,” he told the Guardian in 2016—, he painted right to the edge, often covering the frame. His artworks were rooted in memory, past experience and time—he is often quoted as having said: “I paint representational pictures of emotional situations.” The feeling with which his art was imbued is not rendered figuratively; it appears to the viewer through intense colours and sweeping or stabbing brushstrokes. His pictures often took years to complete.

• Acquainted with the Night (1953) was Howard Hodgkin’s first print, inspired by Robert Frost’s poem and made for a group portfolio called Poetry at Night while he was at Corsham. However, he didn’t keep a copy. In 2012, he revisited the poem and made a series of prints—the collection was titled Acquainted with the Night. In 2026, the original print was found (thanks to the heirs of a principal of Corsham) and acquired by the Howard Hodgkin Legacy Trust.
• Blackmail (2006—2015) is an example of a work that took Hodgkin a long time to complete. The large-scale oil-on-board piece is a window of disordered reds and orange, with hints of green, framed by a reddy brown.
• Howard Hodgkin became interested in collecting Indian miniatures while he was at Eton and first visited India in 1964, returning almost every year subsequently. In 1978, he worked in Ahmedabad using hand-made paper on which he painted while it was still wet (artworks he made that year include Tree, Little Lotus, Snake and Rest House). Other works, characterised by warmth and colour, include Bombay Sunset (1972_1973),_ Out of the Window, Bombay (2012—2014) and Hello, Bombay_ (2016).

Howard Hodgkin: Select Awards

• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1977)
• Turner Prize (1985)
• Knighthood, New Year’s Honours (1992)
• Honorary Fellowship, London Institute (1999)
• Honorary DLitt, University of Oxford (2000)
• Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, New Year’s Honours (2003)

Howard Hodgkin: Select Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

• Howard Hodgkin: In a Public Garden, Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery, London (2025)
• Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends, National Portrait Gallery, London (2017)
• Howard Hodgkin: Painting India, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield (2017)
• Howard Hodgkin: From Memory, Gagosian, New York City (2016)
• Howard Hodgkin: Indian Waves, Gagosian, London (2014)
• Howard Hodgkin: As Time Goes By, Alan Cristea Gallery, London (2009)
• Howard Hodgkin: Paintings 1992—2007, Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven (2007) (and touring)
• Howard Hodgkin, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (2001)
• Howard Hodgkin, Alan Cristea Gallery, London (2001)
• Howard Hodgkin: Paintings 1975—1995, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (1995)
• Howard Hodgkin: Small Paintings, Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes (1990) (and touring)
• Howard Hodgkin: Forty Paintings, British Pavilion, Venice Biennale (1984)
• Indian Leaves, Tate Gallery, London (1982)
• Howard Hodgkin, Forty-Five Paintings: 1949—1975, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1976) (and touring)
• Howard Hodgkin: New Paintings, Kasmin Gallery, London (1969)
• Arthur Tooth and Sons, London (1962)

Select Group Exhibitions

• Kettle’s Yard Handpicked: Painting Flowers from 1900 to today, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (2026)
• Size Doesn’t Matter, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin (2025)
• Memories: Etel Adnan and Howard Hodgkin, Cristea Roberts Gallery, London (2023)
• The Solace of Amnesia, Hall Art Foundation, Reading (2018)
• Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (2011)
• The Galleries Show, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2002)
• The 1980s: Prints from the Collection of Joshua P Smith, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1989)
• Aspects of British Art Today, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (1982) (and touring)
• The Human Clay, Hayward Gallery, London (1976) (and touring)
• Contemporary Prints, Ulster Museum, Belfast (1972)

Further Reading

• Howard Hodgkin’s official website
• Article about Hodgkin from Christie’s (2026)
• Interview in the Guardian (2016)
• Interview in The Times (2008)
• Artist profile page at Gagosian

Howard Hodgkin FAQs

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