Market Watch David Hockney: Top 10 Most Investable Prints

Untitled No.516 is just one expression of Hockney's career-spanning fascination with Flowers. The intricately detailed work was executed on Hockney's iPad, the artist's favoured medium of the past decade. Untitled No.516 conveys Hockney's mastery over the iPad, applying the same colour palette and mark-making so integral to his oeuvre as his painted work. In fact, the layering opportunities and different effects offered by his iPad showcases Hockney's style to a new and refreshing end.

This work has proved the most popular of Hockney's signed print editions in the past five years. The idyllic vase of flowers attests to his unrelenting pursuit of artistic and technological innovation, and the continual inspiration of everyday life in his work. Since 2017, the print has grown in value by approx. 610%.

Another of Hockney's digital drawings, The Arrival Of Spring In Woldgate East Yorkshire 17th April 2011 visualises the landscape of Hockney's native Yorkshire. From his extensive series titled The Arrival Of Spring In 2011, this particular print depicts a road which divides the flush greenery of the landscape. At the centre of the composition, Hockney pictures a crumbling wall with layers of the same colour in different digital effects, reminding us of the human presence in this natural scene. This digital drawing has proved particularly popular in the past five years, realising a tremendous growth in value of 609%.

Part of his Some New Prints series, Four Part Splinge is one of Hockney's most daring compositions. Characterised by colourful biomorphic forms, this work reveals Hockney's fascination with Cubism in the 1990s and his foray into set design. True to his innovative approach, Hockney sought to explore perspective which ”feels space”, and this work captures that perfectly. Though the planographic print is distinct to Hockney's larger body of work, it retains the telltale signs of Hockney's style. Such is the popularity of the print that it has experienced value growth of approx. 605% in the past five years.

From his Some More New Prints series, Above And Beyond is an extension of Hockney's experimentation in the aforementioned Some New Prints series. Within this 1993 screen print, we see similar twisting forms which mingle between different planes of space. Like Four Part Splinge, this print toys with the viewer's perception and encourages a renewed way of seeing that is not limited to linear space. Since 2017, this Above And Beyond has increased in value by approx. 550%, showcasing the popularity of these experimental works in the past five years.

This 1998 etching is an homage to Van Gogh and his unprecedented approach to perspective. Van Gogh Chair (white) is Hockney's reimagining of the Dutch post-Impressionist's painting of a chair, giving it a graphic treatment with thick outlining. The work marks a stylistic shift away from its counterpart, Van Gogh Chair (black), with a bolder and more illustrative appeal. The print documents not only the development of Hockney's personal style, but also the innovation of representation throughout art history itself. The distinctive print has experienced growth in value by approx. 545% since 2017.

Long before Hockney began drawing on the iPad, he transformed the Xerox photocopy machine into a personal printing press. Part of his Home Made Prints series, Apples, Pears, Grapes, May 1986 sees the artist utilise the photocopier to create a cutting-edge approach to texture and form. By scanning and layering different colours and elements, Hockney built this illustrative print that mimicked the natural qualities of fruits.

Like all prints from the series, this work was made from the comfort of Hockney's own home, showing the Modern artist's fresh approach to the traditional studio or workshop. Apples, Pears, Grapes, May 1986 has outperformed Hockney's other Xerox prints in the past five years, growing in value by approx. 380% since 2017.

Yet another of Hockney's Digital Drawings, Rain On The Studio Window reflects the artist's inventive approach to media. Part of the appeal of these works lies in their familiarity, as Hockney champions the beauty of the everyday in these snapshots of his life. From a quiet interior, we see the edge of a radiator running along the bottom of the composition, contrasting the direction of rain beading down the window. With layering achieved in his iPad software, Hockney depicts the hazy outline of another house in the distance. This tranquil print has experienced impressive value growth of approx. 400% since 2017.

In Despair is a work unlike any of Hockney's aforementioned prints. The 1966 etching depicts two men in bed, their nude torsos stretched towards the viewer. The work is laden with eroticism, which contrasts the sombre title of the print. The print was published in 1967, the same year the British government finally legalised homosexuality, making this a celebrating of queer love in the 20th century. This culturally significant and early Hockney work has performed particularly well since 2017, increasing in value by approx. 395%.

Also from the Home Made Prints series, Red Flowers And Green Leaves, Separate, May 1988 is a riot of colour and blooming flora. Created with the Xerox photocopier, the still life was assembled with several layers of colour and drawn elements. The final effect straddles Hockney's innovation in painting, print making and drawing - an emblem of the artist's ceaseless experimentation. Since 2017, the print has grown in value by approx. 395%.

Finally, Extending February (diptych) is an atmospheric and mysterious work. Created in 1990, the print depicts a biomorphic form that sprawls across the two halves of the print. From this strange form, snake-like creatures extend towards the viewer, invoking Hockney's earlier work Jungle Boy. Produced during his residency in LA, the print evokes the wild landscape that surrounded Hockney, and the intriguing creatures that populated it. This visually arresting work has experienced approx. 390% value growth in the past five years.

Find out more about David Hockney prints as alternative investment assets in our Ultimate Print Market Report.