David Hockney’s funeral held in private with just two mourners

Artist had requested only his partner and great-nephew attend, with memorial services planned in places he lived

Only two people attended David Hockney’s funeral last week – in line with the British artist’s final wishes.

The two mourners at the private ceremony were Hockney’s 61-year-old partner, Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, and his 33-year-old great-nephew, Richard Hockney, a photographer who worked as the artist’s assistant and frequently modelled for him. Both are trustees of the David Hockney Foundation, established by the artist in 2008.

When the pioneering painter of The Splash died peacefully at his home on 11 June aged 88, Keir Starmer and King Charles were among those who paid tribute to his “vivid, instantly recognisable” work and “irrepressible charm, talent and constant innovation”.

Although Hockney wanted his funeral to be an intimate ceremony, his publicist, Erica Bolton, announced that his life and work would be celebrated in a series of memorial services to be held in places he has lived around the world, including London and Yorkshire.

Bolton said: “We have been overwhelmed by your tributes which have meant so much to us and we wanted to thank you.

“As we have already received so many inquiries about David Hockney’s funeral arrangements and memorials, we would like to clarify that it was David’s clear wish that his funeral should be attended only by his partner, JP, and his great-nephew Richard, and that their privacy would be respected.

“Also in accordance with David’s wishes, we are able to announce that the first memorial service to celebrate David’s life and work will be held in London in spring 2027, followed at later dates by memorials in Yorkshire, Paris and Los Angeles.”

She added that most of Hockney’s works in his private collection would be given to foundations and public institutions around the world “in furtherance of his legacy”.

Hockney refused a knighthood in 1990 and 13 years later, in a 2003 interview with his local newspaper, Bradford’s Telegraph & Argus , he revealed why: “I do not care for a fuss,” he said. “I don’t value prizes of any sort. I value my friends.”

Hockney is thought to have created an estimated 35,000 artworks throughout his six-decade career, including the Queen Elizabeth II window at Westminster Abbey, where the memorial in London is likely to be held.

He donated about 8,000 works to his foundation which were collectively valued at more than £1bn in 2024.

A free exhibition, David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting , runs until 23 August at the Serpentine in London.

Next year, there will be two more exhibitions of Hockney’s work, at Tate Britain and in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern.

There was a surge in demand for the artist’s work at Art Basel last week, where buyers were given one of the first chances since his death to acquire his work in person.

Clare McAndrew, author of The Art Basel and US Global Art Market Report, told the Observer there had been a “supply grab” of Hockney’s paintings, with demand reportedly up more than 1,200% in the 48 hours after his death.