A never-before-seen painting by David Hockney makes its debut in the largest exhibition dedicated to one of Britain's most important living artists.

The work, titled "In the Name of Blake: How Little is Known About What Was Thought," will be on display at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris from April, where hundreds of previously unknown Hockney works will be paired with his famous masterpieces are exhibited together.

Hockney, 87, found inspiration for the mysterious composition in the watercolors of early 19th-century master William Blake, who in turn was inspired by Dante's "Divine Comedy," a 14th-century narrative poem about It tells the author's imaginary journey through hell, purgatory and hell. Heaven.

The work will be exhibited alongside new paintings created in recent weeks and months, as well as those that have been hidden away for decades in the artist's studio or private collection. Other previously unseen works will include a new self-portrait, "A Play Within a Play," which shows the artist's reflections on his art.

Hockney was invited to take over the entire building - a vast landmark "glass cloud" designed by architect Frank Gehry - for an exhibition of what he described as extraordinary proportions.

The new exhibition will feature some of the Bradford-born artist's best-known paintings, including A Bigger Splash, and will also showcase Hockney's work as a painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer A multi-disciplinary talent, throughout his career he employed a range of tools from oil paint and canvas to digital tablets.

Over the past two years, Hockney has worked closely with curator Sir Norman Rosenthal, former chief curator of the Royal Academy of Arts, on a number of groundbreaking exhibitions.

Rosenthal said: "David Hockney is one of the greatest artists. As a contemporary artist, he is the closest thing to Van Gogh. He is serious, but also very approachable, an artist and a philosopher . I really discovered him by working with him on this scale.”

Hockney said in a statement: "This exhibition is significant as it is the largest I have ever mounted - the Fondation Louis Vuitton has 11 rooms. Some of the paintings I have recently been working on will be included in it. , I think it will be very good.”

The exhibition will also dedicate an entire floor to Hockney’s Normandy paintings on iPad and canvas, which are almost never seen before. They reflect that, day after day, season after season, he captures the changing light.

Among the many previously unseen portraits is one by Rosenthal, who said: "Last year, he painted me twice. I went to the studio for about 10 days. Each sitting, about three He looks at you when you're little, and you don't say much. You try to be quiet... Both portraits look like me."

This Blake-inspired work measures 72 inches x 48 inches and is acrylic on canvas created in 2024. David Bindman, a leading Blake scholar, talks about his inspiration for Blake's Tate Britain watercolor "Dante and Virgil Approaching the Angels Guarding the Entrance to Purgatory" - in which Purgatory is depicted as filled with Threatening red cloud.

He said: "This is an important moment of self-discovery for Dante and it is interesting that Hockney should have chosen that particular phase. Hockney's painting is quite impressive and perhaps suggests a journey of self-discovery."

In addition to uncovering many works from private collections, Rosenthal was also surprised to discover pieces from Hockney's own collection that no one had ever seen before. He also discovered a "beautiful" 1960s painting "Renaissance Head" at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, which "hardly anyone has ever seen" because it was the painting Hockney graduated from at the Royal College of Art Obtained soon after.

Some of the paintings were so fresh off the easel that they were not completed before the accompanying book Thames and Hudson went to press.

Rosenthal said of Hockney's prolific energy: "I went away for Christmas, and when I came back, David had two new paintings, which was unbelievable. He loved life. He loved art, he loved painting."

David Hockney 25 runs from 9 April to 1 September.