Springtime

Howard Hodgkin was born in London in 1932 and attended Camberwell School of Art and the Bath Academy of Art, ­Corsham. In 1984, he represented Britain at the Venice ­Biennale and in the following year won the Turner Prize. He has exhibited internationally for over four decades and his work is included in major public and private collections all over the world. Major museum surveys include Paintings 1975-1995 which opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and toured to Fort Worth, Düsseldorf, and London; a major retrospective at the Irish Museum of M­odern Art, Dublin (2006) travelling to Tate Britain and ­Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. ­Until November 2010 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, shows Hodgkin’s series Into the Woods and Venice from its collection.

Howard Hodgkin is one of Britain’s leading contemporary artists. His vibrantly colourful works oscillate between ­figuration and abstraction; they visualise and evoke feelings and memories. His sensual colour compositions evoke memories of places and encounters and the sentiments associated with them. The act of painting revives his memories. In his compositions Hodgkin often creates dramatic contrasts, both reconstructing and obscuring his impressions and feelings by superimposing layers and j­uxtaposing intense colour contrasts and distinct marks. Painted frames enhance the suggestive effect of his pulsa­ting colours.