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David Hockney was offered the chance to be buried at Westminster Abbey but turned it down, saying his ‘heart, soul and body’ would forever remain in his beloved Yorkshire.
The artist, who died on Friday aged 88, is believed to have been made the offer to be buried at the Abbey – where more than 3,300 famous people are interred, including 30 kings and queens – after he completed a stained glass window there in 2018.
Known as The Queen’s Window, it was commissioned to celebrate the 65-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II and was designed by Hockney using his iPad. It depicts a vibrant landscape.
Last night a friend of the Bradford-born artist, who passed away at his London home after suffering a series of strokes, said: ‘David said he was honoured to be offered the chance to rest for eternity in such a beautiful building but that his heart, soul and body would remain in Yorkshire.
‘He was a true Yorkshireman and that is where he will rest.’
Hockney’s funeral will be a small family affair in Yorkshire, held within the next two weeks.
A larger memorial will take place in two months’ time at the Abbey and will likely be attended by a host of Hockney’s friends, including Sir Mick Jagger.
King Charles said he and Queen Camilla were ‘greatly saddened’ to learn of the death of ‘a giant of the world of art and painting, a Yorkshireman through and through, and a dear friend and inspiration to so many’.
David Hockney rejected the chance to be buried at Westminster Abbey, saying he will always belong to his home that is Yorkshire
More than 3,300 famous people are buried at Westminster Abbey, including 30 kings and queens – and the artist completed a stained glass window there in 2018
He had a passion for smoking and was rarely seen without a cigarette in his hand
Hockney in the Sackler Wing of the Royal Academy of Arts at an exhibition containing 82 of his portraits
Dame Tracey Emin said: ‘A great artist and a wonderful man who, with the power of art, changed the perception of Britishness.
‘A proud chain-smoking homosexual who flew the flag higher than any other British artist.’
Over his seven-decade career Hockney – who is widely considered to be the greatest British artist since JMW Turner – became famous for his stunning landscapes and portraits.
His sun-drenched paintings of LA swimming pools, created when he lived in California, became some of his best-known works.
The highest price paid for a Hockney artwork was $90.3million for his 1972 Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which set a record in 2018 as the most expensive work by a living artist at the time.
Had he chosen to be buried in Westminster Abbey he would have rested alongside kings and queens including Edward the Confessor, Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.
Other notable Britons to be interred there include Charles Dickens, Benjamin Britten, John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier.
Hockney’s mother Laura passed away in May 1999 at the age of 98 and is buried in Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Hockney will be buried next to her and his sister Margaret, who died in 2024.
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