I’m a famous painter … get me art of here!
Firemen rescue Hockney after he’s trapped in lift for an hour before launch of blockbuster new exhibition
IT was the moment that the opening of an exhibition featuring a postimpressionist master and Britain’s greatest living artist took a surreal twist.
On his way to the gallery showing his works alongside those of Vincent Van Gogh, David Hockney found himself trapped in a cramped lift in an Amsterdam hotel.
Staff used screwdrivers, drills and other tools to try to free the 81-year- old Yorkshireman and nine other guests, including BBC presenter Jim Naughtie and artist Bing McGilvray. With an increas- ing sense of panic, they eventually managed to prise a gap in the doors large enough to pass through glasses of water and a folding chair for Hockney.
Eventually firemen arrived the five- star Conservatorium Hotel and wrenched open the lift, which was stuck on the ground floor. Hockney seemed none the worse for his hour-long ordeal.
He was offered a glass of whisky to help him recover but simply said: ‘No, no, a nice cup of Yorkshire tea would be perfect. I feel fine, I just need a cigarette.’
Hockney, dressed in red trainers, a lime green cardigan and a tweed Yorkshire cap, smiled and smoked as he posed with his five burly rescuers. McGilvray said: ‘It was pretty claustrophobic in there. We all tried to stay calm but it seemed quite a long time.
Hockney, who had held a press conference at the hotel, managed to make it next door to the Van Gogh Museum only a little late for the opening of the groundbreaking exhibition, which shows the influence of the Dutch master on his work. As a harpist played, he said: ‘Nice and calming and in the open … no more lifts for a while.’
Hockney was in his teens when he first saw Van Gogh’s work and they share a fascination with the natural world.
A major figure in the pop art movement of the Sixties, he spent four decades in Los Angeles, returning to his roots in Yorkshire in 2007 to paint vivid landscapes.
‘Nature is endlessly fascinating,’ Hockney said. ‘It’s exciting to me and it was exciting to Van Gogh. You can’t be bored with nature, can you? And Van Gogh knew that. In the spring, there is a moment when … it looks as though champagne has been poured over the bushes. It looks marvellous.
‘What people love about Van Gogh’s paintings is that all the brushmarks are visible. He might have been miserable, but that doesn’t show in his work.’
Hockney – who is to rent a house in Normandy this spring to paint the French countryside – says in the exhibition catalogue: ‘ I’ve always found the world quite beautiful, looking at it. And that’s an important thing I share with Vincent Van Gogh: we both really, really enjoy looking at the world.’
Axel Rüger, director of the Van Gogh Museum, said: ‘Hockney is one of the most inspirational artists of our time. He is deeply inspired by Vincent Van Gogh.
‘For the first time we are dedicating an exhibition in the main wing to a living artist.’
Hockney – Van Gogh: The Joy Of Nature is at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from tomorrow until May 26.
‘I just need a cup of tea and a cigarette’