An earlier version of this article was published in July 2017.

Between 2004–2009, filmmaker Bruno Wollheim had unprecedented access to film David Hockney RA for what eventually became the award-winning documentary David Hockney: A Bigger Picture (Coluga Pictures, 2009). Wollheim shadowed Hockney on his travels between his homes in Los Angeles and the UK, filming him at work in the Yorkshire countryside and in his studios, and preparing for exhibitions including the 2007 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (when he unveiled his huge painting Bigger Trees Near Warter) and his blockbuster 2012 landscape show, also at the RA.

With 120 hours of footage to choose from, many gems didn’t make the final cut. Over the course of the next few weeks, Wollheim is re-releasing 80 short clips that can be viewed online.

“What comes through these little films is what a special moment this time was for David,” Wollheim says. “He’d come back to his Yorkshire roots from California, his painting was at its most fluent and his restless soul had found a measure of contentment. Together they’re a mud-and-flies love letter.

"I’d forgotten quite how extraordinary David is, his buzzing mind, his original outlook on life, art, the experience of looking at the world and his gift for language.”

Watch three of the short films here:

Visit www.a-bigger-picture.com to watch more short films from the project David Hockney 80 and to stream David Hockney: A Bigger Picture on a pay-per-play basis.