David Hockney is a different artist altogether. His imagery has always been much more upbeat than Bacon and Freud’s was: tending to be vibrantly colourful and angst-free.

The Conversation, from 1980, is one of the Yorkshireman’s famed double portraits, a type of picture in which he examines the relationship between a pair of friends and relatives. Hockney’s fondness for these works stemmed from his belief that portraiture need not be defined solely by the connection between subject and painter — but by the connection between subjects too.

The Conversation depicts two of the artist’s friends — the eminent American curator Henry Geldzahler, and his partner, the twenty-something publisher Raymond Foye — sitting down together, amid what looks like a strained discussion. The former leans forward, seemingly just finishing a point, his right arm resting on his crossed left leg. The latter is slunk slightly back in his chair, listening, somewhat unimpressed and appearing to be contemplating his response.