Quotes of the Day

For many years, British artist David Hockney found inspiration in the bright and shiny landscape of Los Angeles, with its shimmering poolsides and sun-washed patios. But "A Bigger Picture," an exhibition at London's Royal Academy of Arts, sees the famed dauber return to his origins in the altogether lusher surroundings of the Yorkshire Wolds — a region of gentle hills in England's northeast.

Hockney was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, and lives today in the seaside town of Bridlington in the east of the county. The return to familiar surroundings seems to have rejuvenated the 74-year-old. The majority of the 150 exhibits date from the past four years and quite a few from the past 12 months, combining works executed in oil and watercolor together with film and digital art created on the iPad. The images reveal a landscape increasingly rare in England — remote, unspoiled and with the ancient patterns of arable farming still evident. This appealed to Hockney (he worked in the fields in his youth), as did the fact that the area has largely been ignored by English landscape artists.

Exploring Hockney's association with this delightful region — it runs from the Humber Estuary to Flamborough Head — is best begun in West Yorkshire at Saltaire, just outside Leeds. There, at the wonderfully restored Salts Mill, saltsmill.org.uk, you will find the world's largest permanent Hockney collection as well as another Hockney exhibition, "25 Trees and Other Pictures," which runs until April 30. The former wool mill's restoration was the work of the late Jonathan Silver, a Bradford-born businessman and friend of Hockney's who encouraged the artist to return to Yorkshire and capture its hills and valleys.

From Saltaire, head east. Much of Hockney's inspiration comes from the hinterlands of Bridlington, where he has a large studio. If you want to spend a couple of days exploring, nearby Kilham Hall, kilhamhall.co.uk, offers accommodation and makes a great base.

The landscape is best seen on bicycle or foot, and there are numerous sections of the U.K.'s National Trails in the area. Sites such as walkingtheriding.co.uk and visithullandeastyorkshire.com are helpful when it comes to planning a route. The light and space along these paths is dramatic and overarching, and it's easy to see why Hockney has been so inspired. The bucolic area of Woldgate has been a particularly fertile source of work, being the subject, among other paintings, of The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate. Made up of one huge oil painting and 51 prints created on the iPad, the piece is the undisputed highlight of the Royal Academy show.

Other important works on view at the Royal Academy include Three Trees at Thixendale, The Tunnel (near the village of Kilham) and The Big Hawthorne (located near Rudston, where the churchyard is home to an ancient Bronze Age monolith that stands an impressive 7.6 m tall). Besides taking in the painterly landscape, visitors will want to see the lovely and architecturally impressive villages of Sledmere, Londesborough and Warter — so-called estate villages built by wealthy landowners for workers and tenants. There are plenty of country houses too, including Sledmere House, sledmerehouse.com, a magnificent Georgian property open to the public from April to September. And when hunger sets in, the village of South Dalton is the home of the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass Inn, pipeandglass.co.uk, which offers a fabulous menu of seasonal British food.

"David Hockney: A Bigger Picture" runs at the Royal Academy of Arts until April 9. For details, see royalacademy.org.uk.

• Simon Horsford
• Discover the British artist's native Yorkshire