David Hockney's Double Portraits: The Couples Behind the Canvas

David Hockney's series of seven large-scale double portraits, painted in the 1960s and '70s, captures the dynamics of couples aware of being observed. The subjects include well-known figures like writer Christopher Isherwood and artist Don Bachardy, collectors Fred and Marcia Weisman, Met curator Henry Geldzahler and his partner Christopher Scott, fashion designers Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark, and Hockney's former partner Peter Schlesinger. The portraits explore triangulation between subjects and viewer. Christopher Scott, who died in 2002, was the cousin of the article's author. Scott's brother David noted that Scott was initially referred to as Geldzahler's 'assistant' despite their relationship being an open secret. Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million in 2018, becoming the most expensive painting by a living artist at auction. Hockney died last week at 88.