HOTEL ACATLÁN: SECOND DAY: Print by David Hockney from the Moving Focus series

 

David Hockney’s Hotel Acatlán: First Day, 1985, from the Moving Focus series, originates from an unplanned visit during the artist’s journey to Mexico City, when car trouble led him to stay at the Hotel Acatlán. The work is based on sketches made shortly after his arrival, capturing the colourful courtyard from a seated vantage point. These initial drawings formed the basis for a group of lithographs exploring the same setting, including Second Day and Two Weeks Later, each developing Hockney’s observations of the space across time. 

 

The composition reflects Hockney’s continued exploration of shifting perspective, with angled architectural forms, bold colour, and a structured yet fluid sense of space. The courtyard, framed by columns and filled with potted plants, is rendered through a layered viewpoint that moves away from the traditional single-point perspective. As part of the Moving Focus series, the Hotel Acatlán prints sit within a broader investigation into perception and spatial construction, alongside related works such as the Hotel Well lithographs, which present alternative views of the same environment.