David Hockney, Hotel Acatlán: First Day, from Moving Focus, 1984–85, is one of the most expansive and visually immersive prints from Hockney’s landmark Moving Focus series. Executed as a monumental color lithograph across two sheets, the work transforms the courtyard of the Hotel Romano Angeles in Acatlán, Mexico, into an extraordinary exploration of movement, perspective, color, and memory. Rather than depicting the courtyard from one fixed position, Hockney combines multiple viewpoints into a continuous panoramic composition, allowing the viewer to experience the space as if physically moving through it.

By the early 1980s, Hockney had become increasingly dissatisfied with the fixed viewpoint of traditional Renaissance perspective. Inspired by his groundbreaking photographic “joiners,” Cubism, and Chinese scroll painting, he began developing a revolutionary approach to depicting space, one that reflected how the human eye naturally shifts focus while the body moves through an environment. The Moving Focus series represents the culmination of these investigations and stands among the most intellectually significant bodies of work in Hockney’s career.

The Hotel Acatlán works originated during a journey through Mexico when car trouble unexpectedly forced Hockney to stop at the Hotel Romano Angeles in the small town of Acatlán. Captivated by the hotel’s colorful courtyard, tropical plants, architectural details, and central well, Hockney began recording the environment through drawings and photographs. These observations later developed into some of the most recognizable and ambitious compositions within the Moving Focus series.

In Hotel Acatlán: First Day, the courtyard unfolds through a long horizontal format filled with intense reds, yellows, blues, and greens. The dramatically patterned floor draws the viewer into the composition, while columns, walls, vegetation, and architectural elements appear from several different angles. The perspective continuously changes across the image, creating a space that feels simultaneously ordered and impossible. Hockney does not ask the viewer to observe the courtyard from outside. Instead, the viewer is placed directly within the scene, encouraged to move visually from one section of the composition to another.

The work’s title suggests Hockney’s initial encounter with the hotel and the immediate visual excitement he experienced upon entering the courtyard. Unlike a conventional architectural image, the composition records not only what the artist saw, but also how his attention moved through the space over time. The result is unmistakably Hockney: vibrant, sophisticated, experimental, and filled with an extraordinary sense of presence.

Works from Hockney’s 1980s period are among the most sought-after and collectible of his career. During this remarkable decade, he fundamentally reconsidered the traditions of landscape and interior representation while simultaneously pushing the technical boundaries of photography, painting, drawing, and printmaking. Collectors prize the Moving Focus editions not only for their rarity and exceptional craftsmanship, but also because they represent one of the artist’s most groundbreaking creative achievements.

Produced in collaboration with legendary master printer Kenneth Tyler at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Hotel Acatlán: First Day showcases one of the most ambitious lithographic projects of the 1980s. Tyler introduced Hockney to a specialized process using transparent Mylar sheets, which allowed the artist to layer his color drawings and visualize the different color separations before printing. This innovative process gave Hockney exceptional control over the final composition and contributed to the remarkable richness, clarity, and intensity of the finished image.

Printed as a color lithograph on two sheets of luxurious TGL handmade paper, the work was published by Tyler Graphics Ltd. in 1985. It was issued in a limited edition of only 70, accompanied by 18 artist’s proofs numbered in Roman numerals. Each standard edition impression was signed and dated in pencil by David Hockney, with the Tyler Graphics blindstamp. The complete sheet measures approximately 28 7/8 × 74 1/4 inches, giving the work an impressive panoramic presence that approaches the visual impact of a large-scale painting.

Museum Collections:

The significance of Hotel Acatlán: First Day is reflected by its inclusion in the collections of several internationally recognized institutions, including:

Tate, London
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

The Walker Art Center’s impression entered the museum through the Tyler Graphics Archive, while Tate and the National Gallery of Australia also hold impressions of this important composition. Its presence in these institutions underscores the importance of both the Moving Focus series and Hockney’s revolutionary contributions to late twentieth-century printmaking.

This example, from the edition of only 70 and hand signed and dated by David Hockney, represents an outstanding opportunity to acquire one of the artist’s most recognizable and museum-quality print editions. Combining rarity, historical significance, exceptional craftsmanship, monumental scale, and one of the strongest periods of Hockney’s career, Hotel Acatlán: First Day is a cornerstone work for serious collectors of modern and contemporary art.

David Hockney’s Moving Focus series, created between 1984 and 1986, is one of the most ambitious print projects of his career. Moving beyond traditional fixed perspective, Hockney used shifting viewpoints, fragmented forms, expressive drawing, and vivid color to explore how people experience subjects over time. Featuring portraits, interiors, still lifes, chairs, and views of the Hotel Romano Angeles in Mexico, the series was produced with Kenneth Tyler using innovative combinations of lithography, etching, screenprinting, collage, and handmade papers. Together, the works represent a major achievement in modern printmaking and a powerful exploration of movement, perspective, and memory.

The works in David Hockney’s Moving Focus Series (1984–1986) include: Conversation in the Studio, Tyler Dinning Room, Pembroke Studio Interior, Pembroke Studio with Blue Chairs and Lamp, Two Pembroke Studio Chairs, The Perspective Lesson, Amaryllis in Vase, Red Celia, Celia in Green Hat, Hotel Acatlan: First Day, Hotel Acatlan: Second Day, Hotel Acatlan: Two Weeks Later, Views of Hotel Well I, Views of Hotel Well II, Views of Hotel Well III, Walking Past Two Chairs, An Image of Gregory, An Image of Celia, An Image of Celia, State I, An Image of Celia, State II, An Image of Celia Study, Portrait of Mother I, Portrait of Mother II, Portrait of Mother III, An Image of Ken, White Porcelain, A Picture of Two Chairs, Number One Chair.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

David Hockney’s Hotel Acatlán: First Day, from Moving Focus, 1984–85 is fully documented and referenced in the principal catalogues and texts concerning the artist’s graphic work. Copies of the applicable references will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoice accompanying the sale of the artwork.

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, catalogue number 269
Tyler Graphics, catalogue number 279

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.