Name: Sunflower I
Brand: David Hockney
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of David Hockney’s Sunflower I (signed) is estimated to be worth between £8,500 and £12,500. Over the past 12 months, the average selling price was £9,500, across 1 total sales. In the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £5,000 in January 2021 to £9,500 in June 2025. This intaglio print from 1995, has shown consistent value growth and has an auction history of 16 total sales since its entry to the market in June 1999. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 80.

Meaning & Analysis

An obvious homage to van Gogh, Sunflower I is a striking intaglio still life. Here the sunflowers of the title stand tall in their pot or vase, against a background filled with marks from the etching plate. The leaves are a mass of black ink, dominating the composition, and bring a certain weight to the more ephemeral blooms. The work could just as easily be a copy of the Dutch master’s work or a study from life, however the pot is a different shape to van Gogh’s. It is likely that Hockney was inspired by the famous series of paintings and created his own similar composition. Whereas elsewhere there are veiled quotations from Morandi or Matisse still lifes, Hogarth prints, and various works of literature, here we see perhaps Hockney's most overt acknowledgment of the debt he owes to those who came before him. The artist clearly had a close relationship to van Gogh’s work and even compared his move to LA from London in 1964 to ‘van Gogh going to Arles’.