David Hockney: The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods Through September 1, 2025
David Hockney, The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods (Spring 2011, Summer 2010), 2010–11, 36-channel video installation (color, silent), edition 7/10, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © 2011 David Hockney, All Rights Reserved
David Hockney, The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods (Autumn 2010, Winter 2010), 2010–11, 36-channel video installation (color, silent), edition 7/10, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © 2011 David Hockney, All Rights Reserved
British painter David Hockney created The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods in his native Yorkshire, England. With these videos, he updates the classic theme of the four seasons by taking advantage of digital technology to capture the essence of nature and human perception.
Seeking out optimum light and weather conditions, Hockney and his team filmed four video sequences, focusing nine cameras at different angles and exposures along the same stretch of a country road, documenting the changing seasons over one year. The resulting montages mimic the way people perceive their surroundings, as the human gaze never rests on a single point, but instead wanders, zooms in, and changes direction.
“This gives us a much more fluid perspective, and of course a wider time frame, making it possible to see more of where we have been and where we are going . . . more like real life, perhaps.”
—David Hockney
The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods (Spring 2011, Summer 2010, Autumn 2010, Winter 2010) presents a nuanced exploration of time, landscape, perception, and memory. First seen at the MFAH in the landmark 2021 exhibition Hockney – Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature, this video installation has entered the Museum’s collection of modern and contemporary art.
David Hockney: The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods / June 2024–September 1, 2025