he is up there with david hockney, with bridget riley.eaves behind him some very, very great works of art. howard hodgkin first arrived on the scene of the 1960s. he made his name in the 70s and triumphed in the 80s, representing britain at the venice biennale and winning the turner prize. i am very pleased, very grateful and very surprised. matisse, degas and jackson pollock were all influences. but it was the light and life of india that he first discovered in 1964 which became his great love and inspiration. look at those colours in a row. lilac, the pink, the orange, yellow between. amazing. i think more than any other artist i can think of, howard's paintings are a celebration of life, they are an exploration of life. it is notjust life as if seen by a one eyed cyclops. it is life in motion, it is life as experienced over many years, but more than anything else, it is viewed through sensation and emotion and through feeling. howard hodgkin might not have enjoyed picking up his brush and making his art, but he couldn't resist it and n