In 1966, Hockney started his series with Little Splash and Splash before painting A Bigger Splash in 1967. The series was inspired from a photograph of a swimming pool advertising.

 

This first two painting are now in private collections and rarely seen, A Bigger Splash is at the Tate. 

 

In Little Splash Post, Hockney shares his new painting and Betty Freeman, a patron and her model for Beverly Hills Housewife, alludes to the fact that he painted her pool. The writer Christopher Isherwood was a close friend of Hockney who used to call him Mr Whizz.C

 

In Splash Post, Hockney shares how he believes that painting is more powerful than a camera to capture the movement. His ​lover, the artist Peter Schlesinger reacts as well as Andy Warhol who is at the time crazy about making movies.

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In A Bigger Splash Post, Hockney mentioned how he carefully painted "in 2 weeks a moment of 2 seconds" "like "Leonardo". The artist shares his new painting and Sheridan Dufferin*  patron of the arts and partner of John Kasmin, in the Kasmin gallery representing Hockney comments. Sheridan Dufferin will buy the painting from John Kasmin and then sell it to the Tate in 1981. 

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*(Sheridan Frederick Terence Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 5th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava)

Sources: David Hockney: A rake’s progress, Christopher Simon Sykes

davidhockney.com

hockneypictures.com

tate.org.uk