Paint with Hockney
Design and development of a painting assisted app for iPad
To mark the David Hockney 25 exhibition (10 April – 31 August 2025), the Fondation Louis Vuitton is presenting over 400 works by the artist spanning 70 years of his creative output: large-scale paintings, drawings, photographic collages, videos and, of course, iPad paintings.
To extend this immersive experience, the Foundation commissioned reciproque to develop an interactive iPad app enabling visitors to redraw several works ‘in the style of’, as well as three bespoke pieces of furniture designed to hold the tablets, positioned in the exhibition’s corridors.
Through a balance of free drawing and guided experience, visitors are invited to choose a painting from a selection of works in the exhibition, and then attempt to reproduce it or improvise using the artist’s graphic motifs and colour palette. At the end of the activity, they take their creation home on their smartphone, accompanied by a quote - a personal souvenir and an extension of their visit.
Through this hands-on experience, visitors become both observers and participants, refining their visual perception and experiencing the immediate pleasure of painting like David Hockney. This initiative thus offers a creative, playful yet respectful way of engaging with the art, responding to the public’s desire to participate and experiment.
