David Hockney on Van Gogh: The Joy of Painting Nature

David Hockney, born in 1937 and one of the foremost contemporary painters, has consistently used brushes throughout his career despite also working with drawing, photography, and the iPad. Last year, for an exhibition dedicated to him at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the English artist gave an extensive interview comparing his work to that of the Dutch master. Hockney observes that Van Gogh's paintings are full of movement and that people love them because every brushstroke is visible, revealing how the painting was made. He emphasizes painting as a tool for observing the world: when drawing a blade of grass, one truly looks and begins to see more, a process he finds exciting and believes Van Gogh shared, as he could see very clearly.