Conversations with the past:
Hockney and the old masters with Isabel Seligman

Lunchtime lecture

Painting of a man with dark hair sitting on a wicker chair and leaning forward with his head on his hands
JP Gonçalves de Lima, 3rd November 2021. Acrylic on canvas 1219.2 x 914.4 mm © David Hockney. Photo Credit: Jonathan Wilkinson, Collection of the artist.

18 January 2024, 13.00-14.00

The Ondaatje Wing Theatre

£10 (£8 Members / concessions)

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Constantly looking to the history of art for as inspiration, as well as for subjects, styles, solutions and techniques, David Hockney’s conversations with the art of the past have been lively and ongoing. From his early subversion of Hogarth’s moralising tale in A Rake’s Progress (1961–3), to his employment of the reed pen inspired by Vincent van Gogh, this talk will examine the impact that historic artists have had on Hockney’s graphic portraits, particularly focusing on the work of Rembrandt, Ingres and Picasso.

A woman with long wavy brown hair wearing a blue jacket stands in front of a wooden bookcase with old books in it
© Olenka Horbatsch


Isabel Seligman is the Monument Trust Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawing in the department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. Recent exhibitions and publications include Drawing Attention: emerging British artists (British Museum, 2022, touring 2023–4), Pushing Paper: Contemporary Drawing from 1970 to Now (Thames and Hudson, 2019), Lines of Thought: Drawing from Michelangelo to Now (Thames and Hudson, 2016) and contributions to David Hockney: Drawing from Life (National Portrait Gallery, 2020 and 2023).