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Apollo

Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends

National Portrait Gallery, London

NOW CLOSED

This is the first exhibition of portraits by Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017), one of Britain’s greatest artists. Hodgkin’s paintings are characterised by rich colour, complex illusionistic space and sensuous brushwork. By emphasising these pictorial elements, his work frequently appears entirely abstract. However, over the course of 65 years, a principal concern of Hodgkin’s art has been to evoke a human presence. The exhibition explores Hodgkin’s development of a personal visual language of portraiture, which challenges traditional forms of representation. Find out more about the Howard Hodgkin exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery’s website.

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Mrs Nicholas Monro (1966–69), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin, Photo: © Tate, London 2017

Mrs Nicholas Monro (1966–69), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin, Photo: © Tate, London 2017

R.B.K. (1969–70), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin, Photo: © Tate, London 2017

R.B.K. (1969–70), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin, Photo: © Tate, London 2017

Memoirs (1949), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin

Memoirs (1949), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin

First Portrait of Terence McInerney (1981), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin

First Portrait of Terence McInerney (1981), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin

Portrait of the Artist (1984–87), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin

Portrait of the Artist (1984–87), Howard Hodgkin. © Howard Hodgkin

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