UK’s leading artist, David Hockney, sends a message of hope

Reporting on food and figures at Annely Juda, Waddington Custot and Soft Opening

Auction house fields a steady contemporary evening sale in London

Our pick of highlights from the next fortnight's fairs and auctions

We look back at the biggest art sales of the year, which reveal a concentration on New York over London and a continued dominance of 20th century male artists

We look at which contemporary artists hold the record for the most shows in the capital over the past 20 years

We revisit our exclusive interview with the British artist. Plus, expert Martin Gayford tells us about Hockney, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and others in post-war London

"I remember my mum painting cherry blossoms in the garden, when I was five or six—I think I ate some paint."

Yorkshire-born Hockney named an “icon” for being the most expensive living artist at auction, exhibiting with Van Gogh and creating pioneering iPad works

The British artist dominates the Van Gogh Museum’s dubious doubleheader, which offers little to connect the pair

British artist's exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum opens this week

British artist was in Amsterdam for the opening of his exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum

The people, places and things that had a year to remember—or to forget

Exhibition of 120 works will reveal a shared fascination with nature, bold use of colour and experimentation with perspective

The Yorkshireman's 1970s Californian scene, Portrait of an Artist, sold on the nose at $80m at Christie's in New York last night

As the winner of her eponymous award is announced, the artist-royal discusses her passion for the medium and her collaboration with other Norwegian artists

We talk to David Hockney about Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which broke an auction record this week, selling at Christie's New York for $90.3m with fees. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

A double pool portrait, estimated at $80m and offered at Christie’s with no reserve, could set a record for the most expensive work by a living artist

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) could become the most valuable work by a living artist sold at auction

How soon is too soon? Private collectors are selling off works as little as a few weeks after lending them to high-profile shows

We talk to Martin Gayford about his book Modernists and Mavericks and sitting for portraits by Freud and Hockney. And we explore a show celebrating the Signals gallery, where Latin American and European avant-gardes converged.

Rapper P. Diddy identified as buyer of the Chicago-based painter's Past Times

Acquisition heralds triptych of London shows dedicated to Dean

More than 150 works will be on display, from those executed early in his career to some whose paint is still wet