David Hockney loved smoking – it was his lifelong joy
Artist David Hockney, who died at 88, was a lifelong passionate smoker. His last self-portrait featuring a cigarette sparked a dispute with the Paris Metro, which banned the ad for glamorising smoking. Hockney often rebelled against bans, seeing them as intolerance.
David Hockney, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, passed away this week at the age of 88. His final self-portrait, exhibited during his lifetime at a 2025 Paris retrospective, shows the artist holding a paintbrush in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The work, titled 'Play within a Play within a Play and Me with a Cigarette,' caused a conflict with the Paris Metro, which refused to use its photo for advertising because it violated rules against glamorising smoking. Hockney called it 'bossiness' and often wore a badge saying 'End bossiness soon.'
Smoking was integral to Hockney's identity. He started young, and it became part of his creative process. He frequently noted that he outlived four of his doctors who advised him to quit. Hockney smoked almost his entire life, viewing it as a personal freedom. When the campaign to ban smoking in pubs began in the early 2000s in the UK, he became an active advocate for smokers' rights. He protested at the Labour party conference in 2005 with a poster reading 'Death comes to us all' and regularly wrote letters to The Guardian, questioning the medical certainty and comparing smoking restrictions to intolerance towards minorities. He even kept 2000 cigarettes at home 'for emergencies.'
Despite health issues, Hockney never regretted his habit. His final works include a portrait of his caregiver, Thomas Mupfupi, so warm and dignified that it's hard to imagine Hockney unhappy with his choices. He often said there would be no fire without smoke, and his love for smoking was his lifelong joy.
