David Hockney's Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime heads to Christie's London auction

Christie's has announced that David Hockney's 1969 painting Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime will be a highlight of its autumn auction season, with a presale estimate of £7-10 million. The work, which has not been on the market for over 30 years, will embark on an international tour starting September 3 in Seoul during Frieze week, then traveling to Hong Kong, New York, and finally London for the 20th / 21st Century: London Evening Sale on October 13. The painting was created after Hockney's trip to the south of France with his partner Peter Schlesinger in autumn 1968, inspired by the vibrant colors of the Côte d'Azur. It was first exhibited in Hockney's historic retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1970. Christie's Asia-Pacific director Cristian Albu noted that the painting will be shown alongside the museum-quality exhibition Flesh and Soul: Bacon / Ghenie at BOONTHESHOP – Cheongdam in Seoul. Katharine Arnold, Christie's Europe director of Post-War and Contemporary Art, compared the work's water depiction to Hockney's masterpiece A Bigger Splash (1967, Tate London). The auction coincides with London's Frieze Week.