David Hockney’s 1965 painting 'English Garden' is returning to the auction block at Sotheby’s London with an estimate of £2.5 million to £3.5 million ($3.4 million to $4.7 million). Painted while Hockney was teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the work is recognized as his first English landscape and has been held in a private collection for nearly thirty years. It was last sold at auction in 1997 for just £89,500.
The sale highlights the exponential value growth of Hockney’s early career works, representing a potential 727 percent return on investment for the consignor. Beyond its financial significance, the painting marks a pivotal stylistic shift where Hockney began utilizing the flattened perspective and artifice that would later define his iconic California pool series and Yorkshire landscapes.