Deluxe David Hockney book captures the changing seasons of the year 2020

2020 was a challenging year for everyone. With most people stuck indoors doomscrolling the news, the events of the pandemic provided little relief. But for renowned artist David Hockney the natural world was a welcome diversion, and one which he captured in his trademark style in a series of colourful artworks and characterful sketches.

These images are the subject of TASCHEN's whopping great new artist's book, David Hockney, 220 for 2020. As its name suggests, this book is crammed full of 220 artworks that depict the view from Hockney's small, picturesque farmhouse in the rich fields and meadows of Normandy. Created with an iPad, these images provide a seasonal time capsule of how the landscape changed over those eventful 12 months.

As well as being an incredible showcase of his work, David Hockney 220 for 2020 is also a timely expansion of his blockbuster Royal Academy exhibition. In a statement, TASCHEN adds that Hockney "used his iPad to spontaneously depict impressions of the landscape surrounding him, catching the first spring blossoms, the smell of summer, the saturated colours of autumn, and the stark shapes of dark branches in the wintertime".

Fans of TASCHEN, whose art books are something of an industry benchmark, know that their deluxe editions are a sight to behold. And this title is no exception. The images it contains are printed with up to seven special colours - so that they can match the artist's vision – and are "tipped in on a dark blue paper stock" in order to treat each of them as an individual work of art.

The book also contains an introduction from Hockney himself, where he reveals how the project came to fruition and became a lifeline during the COVID lockdowns. Having emerged from the other side with a vast array of incredible works to show for it, Hockney has concluded that no matter how bad events can get, we should "remember they can't cancel the spring."

Presented in a huge clamshell presentation box, this book is accompanied by a smaller, accompanying volume of ink and watercolour drawings by Hockney. This is a complete facsimile of two sketchbooks created in 2019, in which Hockney captured the vicinity of his Los Angeles home, as well as scouting trips around his new home in Normandy.

Priced at £1,500, David Hockney 220 for 2020 is available to pre-order now on the TASCHEN site ahead of its official release on 30 March. Collectors' Editions (No. 401-1,620) are numbered and stamped in volume 1, whereas the two Art Editions (No. 1-44) are printed with a number and signed and dated by David Hockney himself.