On October 17, 2025, a remarkable chapter in both digital art and the global art market unfolded at Sotheby’s London. Seventeen iPad drawings by David Hockney, collectively titled "The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate," sold for a staggering £6.2 million ($8.3 million), more than doubling the auction house’s high estimate and sending ripples of excitement through collectors worldwide. The sale, which coincided with London’s Frieze art fair, marked the largest group of Hockney’s iPad drawings ever to appear at auction, and the results underscored not only the enduring appeal of the 88-year-old British artist but also the growing legitimacy of digital art in the eyes of serious buyers.
According to ARTnews, the auction set a new record price for a Hockney print not once, but three times in a single day. The pinnacle came with the sale of "The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 – 19 February (2011)," which fetched £762,000 ($1 million), shattering the previous record of £504,000 ($693,069). Fifteen of the seventeen works achieved record prices for the subject across both editions, cementing the collection’s status as a benchmark for Hockney’s digital output.
Yessica Marks, head of prints for Sotheby’s Europe, told ARTnews, “Hockney’s iPad drawings are both impactful and uplifting. Tonight’s white-glove results confirmed just how much Hockney’s work commands attention from collectors globally, standing as both a benchmark of artistic ingenuity and a testament to his enduring market appeal.” She added that the auction “brought a spark to Frieze Week,” an annual highlight for the international art scene. Marks emphasized, “The spirited bidding and strong global participation all underscore the immense appreciation that exists for Hockney—and for the fearless experimentation that makes him the genius he is.”
The significance of this sale goes beyond the numbers. Sotheby’s described the event as an "exceptionally rare opportunity" for buyers and a milestone for digital art. Forty percent of the works were acquired by American collectors, and a notable 65 percent of the sales happened online, reflecting both Hockney’s worldwide following and the increasingly digital nature of art transactions themselves. As el-Balad noted, the sale highlights a growing appreciation for innovative artistic expressions and sets a precedent for future auctions involving digital artworks.
The story behind these drawings is as compelling as the sale itself. Hockney, who turned 88 in 2025, began the series in 2011 after relocating from Beverly Hills to Bridlington, in East Yorkshire. The move marked a return to his roots—he was raised in Bradford and spent many childhood summers in East Yorkshire, often working in the fields during school holidays. In the 1990s, he made more frequent visits to Yorkshire, particularly to see his mother and his close friend Jonathan Silver, who was battling cancer, according to the BBC.
In January 2011, Hockney set out to capture the arrival of spring in Woldgate, a rural area near Bridlington. He originally intended to paint en plein air, but as he wryly told Sotheby’s, it was “a bit difficult when you are stood there in the winter.” Not one to be deterred by the British chill, Hockney turned to his iPad as his canvas, embracing digital technology with characteristic curiosity and verve. “It was a wonderful spring,” he later said of discovering the medium.
Over the course of that season, Hockney created an astonishing 94 drawings, each day returning to a different location in Woldgate to observe and record the subtle changes in light, color, and vegetation. From this prolific output, he narrowed the selection to 51 works, with the 17 sold at Sotheby’s regarded as some of the finest examples. The full series made its public debut as part of his 2012 retrospective at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, where it was lauded for its fresh perspective and technical innovation.
The auction’s timing was no accident. Sotheby’s scheduled the sale to coincide with the Frieze art fair, drawing attention from collectors and institutions already in London for one of the art world’s premier events. The 17 works came from a private collection, adding an extra layer of exclusivity to an already rare opportunity. As BBC reported, Sotheby’s called the offering “the largest group of Hockney’s iPad drawings to come to market.”
This sale also contributed to a broader trend of robust performance in the modern and contemporary art market at Sotheby’s London. Over the past six months, the auction house has sold £240 million ($322 million) worth of art in this category. Just the day before the Hockney sale, Sotheby’s contemporary art evening auction brought in £47.1 million ($63.3 million), led by Francis Bacon’s "Portrait of a Dwarf" (1975), which hammered above its £9 million high estimate to realize £13.1 million ($17.6 million).
The enthusiastic response to Hockney’s iPad works highlights not only his personal market appeal but also the shifting boundaries of what collectors value. As digital art finds its footing in a world long dominated by oil, watercolor, and sculpture, Hockney’s embrace of the iPad stands as a testament to the power of creative adaptation. The results at Sotheby’s suggest that collectors are more than ready to follow him into this new territory.
For Hockney, whose career has spanned more than six decades and whose works have ranged from swimming pools in California to the hedgerows of Yorkshire, the iPad series represents another chapter in a life devoted to seeing—and showing—the world in new ways. As the market continues to evolve, it seems likely that his digital spring will continue to bloom in the eyes of both critics and collectors alike.
With record-breaking sales and a renewed spotlight on digital art, Hockney’s “Arrival of Spring” series has not only redefined what’s possible for works created on a tablet but also reaffirmed the artist’s place as a fearless innovator at the forefront of contemporary art.
