In a Public Garden brings together more than forty vibrant and richly worked prints by Howard Hodgkin, shown across the Floor One Gallery. Spanning five decades of his career (from 1966 to 2016), the exhibition offers a vivid introduction to an acclaimed artist celebrated for his extraordinary use of colour and his ability to turn personal moments into powerful visual experiences.
Although Hodgkin is best known as a painter, he was also one of Britain’s most important printmakers. Born in London in 1932, he developed a distinctive approach in which colour, texture, and gesture work together to suggest memory, mood, and feeling. His prints—many of them hand-coloured—are bold, layered, and immersive, filled with intense reds, deep blues, and glowing greens that give the works their emotional charge.
The exhibition includes lyrical cityscapes, works inspired by Hodgkin’s experiences in India, and prints created for the 2012 London Olympics. While these images often feel spontaneous, they were made through a careful and extended process. In printmaking, Hodgkin pushed traditional techniques such as etching and aquatint, combining them with hand-painting to create works of remarkable depth and richness.
Hodgkin’s importance is reflected in the international recognition he received during his lifetime. He won the Turner Prize in 1985, represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, and his work has been shown in major museums including Tate Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Reina Sofía in Madrid. Curated by Richard Calvocoressi and touring from Pitzhanger Manor, In a Public Garden invites visitors to spend time with an artist whose intense colour and expressive language continue to resonate today.
Banner Image: Howard Hodgkin (1932 – 2017), Red Palm (detail), 1986-87, Lithograph with hand-colouring in gouache on buff Arches Cover 300gsm paper. © The Estate of Howard Hodgkin. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2026. Images courtesy Cristea Roberts Gallery, London.
