In honor of Vincent Van Gogh’s birthday, who was born on this day in 1853, here are 2 works by David Hockney directly inspired by the famed Dutch painter.

In 1988, commissioned by La Fondation Vincent Van Gogh d’Arles, David Hockney created three portraits of chairs after one of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings – Van Gogh’s Chair (1888). Depicting each side of the chair as it would be seen from multiples viewpoints, these works employ Hockney’s use of altered perspective, providing a sense of space and movement.

“Because of the many viewpoint seen in these pictures, the eye is forced to move all the time. When the perspective moves through time, you begin to covert time into space. As you move, the shapes of the chairs change, and the straight lines of the floor also seem to move in different ways.”

- David Hockney (Hockney’s Pictures, 2004)

In 1998, the Van Gogh Chair reemerged as a subject in a series of etchings Hockney produced for the exhibition Recent Etchings at L.A. Louver in July 1999. The print featured above was later included in a 2011 group exhibition at L.A. Louver titled Loose Canon, including works by 12 contemporary artists inspired by master works of art history. 

IMAGES: (counterclockwise from top) David Hockney, Van Gogh Chair (Black) ed. 15/35, 1998, two color hard ground etching with sugar lift aquatint; David Hockney, Van Gogh’s Chair, 1988, oil on canvas; Vincent Van Gogh, Van Gogh’s Chair, 1888, oil on canvas, Collection of The National Gallery, London