Some of David Hockney’s most iconic works will appear in the night sky above the artist’s hometown of Bradford on Friday 14 November at 5.30pm as part of a special free event for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture celebrating the region’s most famous artist.

The free event will see works from across Hockney’s career recreated in the night sky by over 600 choreographed illuminated drones – from his vibrant Californian pool scenes to his bright landscape paintings of the Yorkshire countryside. The artworks will be represented and animated in lights high above the UNESCO World Heritage Site village of Saltaire in Bradford District.

Having embraced the latest digital technology in his work for many years, this is the first time the artist’s works will be presented using drones.

The event called Painting the Sky is produced by pioneering drone light show company SKYMAGIC who have created projects for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the King’s Coronation Concert, Coachella, and celebrations across the globe. It will take place at 5.30pm Friday 14^th November with members of the public invited to watch the drone sequence from Roberts Park.

David Hockney was born in Bradford in 1937 and attended Bradford Grammar School before studying at Bradford School of Art from 1953 – 1957. He has always embraced using new technology to create his art, from experimenting with Polaroid cameras in the 1980s and his iPad drawings of the Yorkshire countryside and the arrival of spring in Normandy, to his recent immersive exhibition Bigger & Closer (not smaller and further away), which used giant state-of-the-art multimedia projections to present a journey through sixty years of his art.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, Saltaire was created as a model village by Victorian industrialist Sit Titus Salt. At the heart of the village is the Grade II* listed former textile mill Salts Mill, now home to one of the largest permanent collections of works by David Hockney, including the current exhibition 20 Flowers for 2025 and Some Bigger Pictures featuring 20 iPad flower paintings alongside large-scale works, open until 4 January 2026.  Additionally, Salts Mill offers a unique selection of authorised Hockney posters, prints, postcards and books.