David Hockney unveils new painting to lift the nation’s gloom amid coronavirus crisis 

David Hockney has unveiled a new painting to add a splash of colour to the dark times facing the country.

The 82-year-old painter, often dubbed Britain’s greatest living artist, new piece is titled ‘Do remember they can’t cancel the spring’.

Bright yellow daffodils spring up in the foreground in front of a gloomy grey mass in the back of the painting.

Mr Hockney is currently in lockdown in Normandy, northern France, where he has been located since his last exhibition opened.

The celebrated artist moved to Normandy from Los Angeles after buying a house in the French region in 2018.

In an interview he joked that being able to smoke in restaurants was one of the reasons he made the transatlantic move.

He said: ‘I’d like to just work and paint, and to be able to smoke and eat in a restaurant at the same time.

‘Thank God for Normandy. The French know how to live. They know about pleasure.’

Last month the artist’s pop art masterpiece, The Splash, sold for £23 million dollars at auction.

It is one of three related pieces painted in 1966 and 1967, the others being A Little Splash and A Bigger Splash, which is held in the Tate Britain in London.

However, that figure pales in comparison to the £69 million ($90 million) that his 1972 work Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for at auction in November 2018.

The staggering sum was at the time the largest amount paid for by an artwork by a living artist at auction.

In May last year the record was broken when £70 million ($91.1 million) was paid for Rabbit, a metal sculpture by American artist Jeff Koons.