On February 11, the famous auction house Sotheby's managed to sell "The Splash" (1966) by David Hockney for $31.2 million dollars at its Contemporary Art auction in London. With this successful sale, Sotheby's not only managed to reposition Hockney as one of the 10 most prominent artists of the moment, but also managed to surpass its rival, Christie's, with a final result of $120 million from its auction. Christie's had its Contemporary Art auction in the same category the next day, raising about $72.7 million, a difference of $47 million behind Sotheby's.

The Splash by David Hockney belongs to a small series of 3 works by the artist in which he portrays the same scene of water rising after a person dived into a pool. Hockney said in reference to these paintings that he was fascinated by the idea of making a work of an event that only lasts 3 seconds, but that took him 2 weeks to portray. The 3 works are also interpreted as a scene from the American dream; the series was made in the 60's, when the United States (and specifically California) offered a refuge to the LGBT community when in England they were still criminalizing homosexuality. In 2006, The Splash was auctioned for $3.1 million and remained with the same owner until this recent Sotheby's auction, where it fetched 10 times its original price.

With this sale, it is the fourth time Hockney has surpassed the $20 million barrier at auction. However, The Splash's result is far from surpassing his highest record; In November 2018, Hockney became the most expensive living artist of the moment for 6 months with the sale of his painting Henry Geldzhaler and Christopher Scott for $90.3 million, which was later surpassed in May 2019 with Rabbit by Jeff Koons at $91. millions of dollars.

With information from Artprice.com