In 2019 I stood in awe in front of Hockney’s painting The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate (2011) at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The size of the painting (32 canvases spanning a width of almost 10 metres and a height of about 3,5 metres), the bright colours, it made an impression on me. As if I stepped inside a forest, designed to make me happy.

The Man discovered that the Royal Academy of Arts in London currently sells a poster sized version of this painting for their exhibition of Hockney. He ordered it and it arrived just in time for my birthday, despite taking an adventurous detour through Canada.

Of course it will not have the immersive effect of the real painting, but it’s 1,3 metres wide. When I stand really close to it and pinch my eyes, I will surely be transported to that feeling of standing in front of that massive, happy forest.