Lithograph of Water Made of Lines, a Green Wash, and a Light Blue Wash

David Hockney

1978–80

A lithograph by David Hockney that translates the rippled surface of a swimming pool into a network of delicate lines and soft color washes, seeking to show how light and movement make water read as both flat pattern and deep space.

You’re struck by a cool wash of turquoise and blue filled with rhythmic, calligraphic strokes and a stark white diving board hovering above a grid-like field of ripples that both flattens and suggests depth.

Part of Hockney’s ongoing study of pools and perception, this print helped extend contemporary printmaking into lyrical, everyday imagery by using flat, graphic marks to convey shifting light and motion.

Palette

Art Terms

Lithography Print Edition Pictorial space Pop art Contemporary art Gestural Organic

Exhibitions

David Hockney: The Blue Guitar

1979

American Watercolors; Lettering and Arrangements in Poster Design

1941

Following Matisse's Line

1988

London/New York/Hollywood: A New Look in Prints

1966