DAVID HOCKNEY created a splash at Sotheby’s in London last night when one of his iconic swimming-pool paintings sold for a record £2.92 million including commission.

Thirty years ago, The Splash made just £25,000. This time, the sun-drenched painting that established him as the leading artist of his generation attracted feverish bidding.

The wealthiest collectors on both sides of the Atlantic were desperate to have such a “trophy picture” on one of their many walls. Such is his draw that he commands prices usually fetched by works of the Old Masters. Last night’s price exceeded his previous record of £2 million, set this year in New York.

The painting is one of three images that he created on the same theme, inspired by the radiant sunlight of southern California. Using mesmerising colours that stay with the viewer long after they are seen, Hockney played with the illusion of light and space. The Tate’s version, A Bigger Splash, is among the gallery’s most recognisable pictures, and the Hollywood actor Steve Martin used to own a third image, A Little Splash — a much smaller painting measuring 16x20in (40x50cm) compared with the Sotheby’s example, which measures 72x72in.

Hockney, a painter, printmaker, photographer and stage designer, is the Bradford boy who arrived wide-eyed in Los Angeles and took the American dream of pools and sunshine back to Britain.

Fascinated by lawn sprinklers and shimmering pools, he defined Los Angeles in an unique way. The city was the opposite of everything he had grown up with, and he made his home there.

He remains Britain’s best known and most popular contemporary artist and is a leading figure in the Pop Art movement. His portraits and swimming-pool images have earned him an international popularity.

Describing how he painted the composition, he recalled that it took him two weeks just to paint the splash, using small brushes. He said: “Everyone knows a splash can’t be frozen in time, so when you see it like that in a painting it’s even more striking than in a photograph.”

THE NEW MASTER