‘Why wouldn’t David Hockney’s partner let friends see him in final weeks?’ Insiders reveal concerned friends were turned away at the door – and mystery over the artist’s secret £100m collection

When David Hockney died ten days ago, he was being lauded worldwide as the greatest British artist of the last century. Admired for his portraits of sunny California swimming pools and colorful landscapes depicting his beloved Yorkshire countryside, the 88-year-old artist remained creative until the end, captivating younger generations with his iPad creations.

But while his pictures were often exposed to sunlight, The Mail on Sunday has learned that his death was shrouded in a much more sombre veil. Some of Hockney’s closest friends say they were prevented from visiting him in his final weeks, even turned away at the door, leaving the artist ‘alone’ as he lay bedridden after suffering a series of strokes.

One of them said: ‘I’ve been on the phone non-stop since David died. Many of his friends are deeply saddened by not being able to see him in his last days. ‘We are haunted by the idea that this man, whose art is admired around the world, may not have known how much his friends truly loved him.’

The focus of their anger is Hockney’s grieving partner of ten years, Jean-Pierre Goncalves de Lima, aka ‘JP’. She was initially employed by the artist as a domestic assistant, and will now inherit the lion’s share of Hockney’s personal fortune, which runs into the hundreds of millions, and a property empire of at least four houses in London, a farmhouse in the Hollywood Hills, a seaside house and studio in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, and a 17th-century farmhouse in Normandy, France.

The MoS understands that the funeral was arranged by JP, 61, and that only he and Hockney’s great-nephew Richard attended.

‘This is not what David would have wanted,’ says his friend. ‘He was very upset that his friends, especially Celia Birtwell, were frozen.’

Fashion designer Celia was Hockney’s muse; He had sat next to Hockney more than 80 times throughout their fifty-year friendship, but even he wasn’t invited to the funeral.

But there are plans to celebrate his life next year with memorial services in Westminster Abbey, Yorkshire, Los Angeles and Paris.

Fashion designer Celia Birtwell was Hockney’s muse and sat next to Hockney more than 80 times throughout their fifty-year friendship, but even she was not invited to the funeral.

The friend said: ‘Fairly or not, a lot of people accuse JP of isolating David. Her friends came to see her with flowers and were told they could not enter the house. We felt alienated from David at a time when we most wanted to see him, hold his hand, and tell him how much he meant to all of us.

‘David loved the company of his friends, so it’s a heartbreaking feeling when people come to see him and are turned away.

‘For some of us who knew David for decades, it is difficult to properly mourn his death without saying a proper goodbye.’

Few details have emerged about Hockney’s death at his Marylebone home on 11 June; only that he passed away ‘peacefully’.

Little is also known about Hockney’s private art collection, which he kept top secret. However, the MoS can reveal that the work includes works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Henri Matisse and could be worth more than ‘£100 million.

The artist’s friend says: ‘David left behind a huge collection of his own work, but he spent his whole life collecting art by artists he secretly admired. It has an amazing collection, better than most museums.

‘He would take entire catalogs from major auction houses around the world and put together the most remarkable collection. Breathtaking. If you asked me to name a price, I’d say more than £100 million. Probably a lot more.’

Hockney told only his closest friends about the collection, which he kept in a climate-controlled warehouse in Los Angeles, which the Bridlington boy considered his second home.

Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million (£68 million) at auction in 2018

Photo of David and Andy Warhol together. Hockney is said to own more than one Warhol

A friend of the artist who lives in Los Angeles was allowed to view the collection on Santa Monica Boulevard a few years ago. ‘The storage facility was spotless. “From the street, you would never be able to tell that behind these walls is one of the world’s most important art collections,” they said.

‘David had a lot of his own art in there, but he also had a wonderful collection of other artists that no one knew about. He had a few Picassos, works by Matisse and lots of Andy Warhol.’

But their existence is disputed by Hockney’s long-time spokesperson Erica Bolton, who told the MoS: ‘David did not have a collection of works by other artists and none of his works are stored at any of David’s properties in the UK, France and the USA.’

Leaving aside the mystery surrounding his collection, the actual owner of the artist’s works is his personal charity, the David Hockney Foundation. The most recent tax records in America are for 2024 and the value of the foundation is stated as $225 million (£170 million). Another acquaintance said: ‘That’s probably not even half of it. David had left a will, but until the last few months of his life he was working out who would get what. He suffered a stroke in 2012 but continued to work.

‘He worked until the end. If he wasn’t creating art, that’s what he was talking about. ‘He was determined to leave a legacy.’

Hockney told friends that he planned to donate the haul to museums that would help his career. The MoS understands that the Tate galleries in the UK, including Tate Modern and Tate Britain, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will be two of the biggest beneficiaries.

‘He wanted to give back to the England he loved and Los Angeles, where he had spent many happy years,’ says the acquaintance.’

Apparently being a ‘typical frugal Yorkshireman’ he spent very little money on anything else.

‘She didn’t spend her money on flashy clothes or private jets,’ says the source. ‘He ate fish pie and loved the jelly cups from Marks & Spencer. ‘He loved art to his core and spent his money on it.’

Warhol’s close friend Robert Dupont says he acquired some of the Warhols by trading his own works with the American pop artist. He told MoS: ‘I met David through Andy in 1979. David had a charming accent and was fun to be around. Andy and David had already exchanged portraits – they painted each other in 1974 – but I know David had many Warhols.’

But few of Hockney’s purchases could afford the enormous prices his own works of art demanded. Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million (£68.2 million) at Christie’s in New York in 2018; this was a record for a living artist at the time. Since his death, interest in his work has increased rapidly. One of his paintings sold for $8.5 million (£6.4 million) at Art Basel in Switzerland last week, while an iPad sketch sold for $650,000 (£491,000). No wonder artistic director Vincenzo de Bellis describes the atmosphere there as ‘very exciting’.

Hockney’s collection is so valuable that, during last year’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, he told artist friends that he was considering moving the collection to a warehouse in Chicago.

A friend says: ‘I once asked David why he didn’t sell more of his work, and he said he’d made a fortune selling prints online and in museum gift shops, so he didn’t really need it.’

This fortune will be the subject of much intrigue when his will is made public in the coming weeks. It is not yet known how his wealth will be divided, but it looks like JP will get the most.

The artist was in a relationship with her boyfriend of 23 years, chef John Fitzherbert, when Hockney hired her as a domestic assistant.

One of the darkest moments of Hockney’s life came in March 2013, when studio assistant Dominic Elliott, 23, died after swallowing drain cleaner at Hockney’s home in Bridlington. An inquest heard Elliott drank the liquid after ‘partying’ with Fitzherbert while Hockney was fast asleep upstairs.

JP gave evidence at the inquest saying that after Elliott’s death he received a phone call from Fitzherbert asking him to clear the room of ‘any evidence of drug use’.

He said he did this but later told the police what he had done.

The coroner determined there were no suspicious circumstances or third party involvement and recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

A close friend of Fitzherbert says: ‘John went into rehab after that and JP and David went to Los Angeles. Everyone was miserable. David and John broke up and then David and JP got together and have been together ever since. ‘Unfortunately John died a few years ago.’

Hockney’s sexuality was no secret after he boldly came out as gay in 1960 while studying at London’s Royal College of Art, seven years before homosexuality was decriminalized in Britain.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1964, he was one of the first artists to openly depict gay life in some of his most famous paintings.

Warhol’s friend Dupont says that he was only 18 years old when he met Hockney.

He says: ‘He liked me. He came to me. I’d never heard of it and wasn’t really interested.’

In 1989, Dupont reconnected with the artist through a mutual friend, art collector Joan Quinn, and began hanging out regularly at Hockney’s Malibu home.

Hockney eventually moved into his home in Nichols Canyon, close to Los Angeles’ famous Mulholland Drive. The artist originally purchased the property in 1978 for just $118,000 and transformed the ranch-style home into a vibrant estate.

Fitzherbert’s friend says: ‘David painted the walls in bright colors and the bottom of the swimming pool with swirls of blue. This is a work of art.

‘The current value of the house is probably worth several million, but the Hockney painted swimming pool is certainly worth about the same.’

He adds: ‘Despite the sadness felt by many of his friends, he had a wonderful life and was celebrated by generations around the world.

‘People want to put a figure on what it’s worth and that figure has to be in the hundreds of millions. But to his friends, David was and always will be priceless.’