The relationship between art and life has been of overriding importance in the work of David Hockney, who has perhaps enjoyed greater popularity than any other British artist this century. Here Marco Livingstone traces those connections from the beginning of the artist's career in the early 1960s through the more recent works that have contributed to Hockney's international reputation. These include photocollages and highly acclaimed stage designs for the opera as well as his embrace of technology, which show the continuing preoccupation with invention and artifice that has made the artist's work at once popular and enduring.

The fourth edition of this best-selling World of Art title includes updated information on Hockney's work in the past twenty years, such as his foray into the world of digital art including large-scale iPad drawings and video.