'A Bigger Splash' is one of a number of paintings David Hockney made featuring Californian swimming pools, here capturing the moment just after someone dived in. The splash is the only clue to their presence in the scene. Hockney first visited California in 1963 and was immediately won over by its sunshine and laid-back lifestyle (quite different from London where he had been living). He described it as his ‘promised land’ and spent much of the next forty years living there. Hockney's painting i