DAVID HOCKNEY, ANGLETERRE

Ever since I was student, van Gogh has been amongst the painters whom I find the most overwhel-
ming, as much in his work as in his correspondence. When T eventually visited Arles, as a guest of the
Rencontres Photographiques, I had the opportunity of being invited to dinner in the famous garden of
the hospital in Arles that Vincent had painted.

The cell where he had been confined on several occasions was just two steps away from me... I went
inside.

The impression of that small dark space affected me very much. I thought about it for quite some time
and finally made up my mind to do this painting for him...

David Hockney, 1988.