AS a boy, David Hockney would often visit Cartwright Hall, the grand Victorian art gallery across the road from the school he went to.

It was, he said, the only place in the city where he could see real paintings.

Inspired by the gallery and its contents, the young Hockney went on to Bradford School of Art, then to the Royal College of Art, London - and today he is one of the world's greatest living artists.

This week, in which Hockney turns 80, his life and work are celebrated in a permanent gallery opening at Cartwright Hall. The focus of the David Hockney Gallery is the city that made the man - how Hockney’s formative years in Bradford shaped and influenced his art.

The exhibition includes family photographs from the artist's personal albums, displayed publicly for the first time and offering a rare, intimate glimpse into his life; a short film of him working at his Bridlington studio; early sketchbooks; the largest public collection of his work from Bradford School of Art; and original artwork created at a Cartwright Hall workshop by his father.

"This is the very building that inspired him to become the man we know as the greatest English living painter," said Jill Iredale, curator at Cartwright Hall. "In creating this gallery, we are able to show the incredible early years of Hockney’s work in the immediate context of his family and surroundings - something only truly possible here in his home city."

Jill has been given exclusive access to David Hockney in this, his 80th year. For two years she has worked closely with his studio to create a permanent display unearthing his roots and following the first steps towards becoming one of the world's most significant artists.

After initially gaining Hockney's approval, she liaised with him on the gallery's content. "He has been really supportive and generous in giving and lending us his works," said Jill. "He let us reproduce images from his personal family photo albums that haven't been seen in public before."

Spanning three decades, from the 1960s - 80s, the photographs depict day trips Hockney took with his family to the Lake District as a young man, family snaps at his Eccleshill home and his beloved dogs at his home in LA.

Bradford Museums and Galleries holds the largest public collection of Hockney’s earliest work. On display will be many of his lithographs and etchings, including two of his most famous series of prints - The Blue Guitar and A Rake’s Progress - shown in their entirety. The gallery will also house significant early works created between 1953-57 by the young Hockney at Bradford School of Art.

"This was our starting point," said Jill. "These drawings tell the story of how it all started for David Hockney in Bradford. Downstairs we will have a new gallery featuring work of Bradford artists from 1850 to 1950, when Hockney was starting out. All the artists of his generation say learning to draw was the basis for everything for them; it taught them technique, and to look closely at things they wouldn't normally look closely at. They all credit Bradford School of Art for teaching them to draw properly. Hockney has been very vocal about that too. Everything, right up to his iPad work, was underpinned by the fact that he could draw - it all goes back to that school of art. We're really lucky to have these early drawings in our collection."

Locations in the city that inspired Hockney also feature. A specially created map of Bradford noting local places referenced by his work will be illustrated by paintings, sketches and photographs - a muted contrast to his more colourful work that followed, inspired by his move to Los Angeles in 1964. "This is a useful way of pinpointing places such as where he lived, some of the streets he captured in early sketches and ink drawings, Bradford Grammar School, and Cartwright Hall," said Jill.

A new short film on view in the gallery, by celebrated arts documentary maker Bruno Wolheim, features unseen footage of David Hockney working in Yorkshire. Wolheim followed the artist for three years (2003-6), gathering over 100 hours of footage for his 2009 film, David Hockney - A Bigger Picture, and this 20-minute film, specially created for the gallery, uses unseen material gathered over that period.

"Bruno filmed him in Bridlington, painting in his studio and out in the countryside. Through the film you get an idea of what it's like sitting with and talking to Hockney, and watching him paint," said Jill. "People are fascinated by Hockney and want to know who he really is. We get children learning about his work asking things like: 'Does he have brothers or sisters? Does he have pets?' This film sheds light on who he is, as well as Hockney the artist."

The gallery looks at aspects of Hockney's diverse practice, including his technique and influence on fashion. Also on display will be Le Plongeur - one of the three largest pieces from a series of 29 pictures he created from coloured paper pulp, shown alongside archive photos showing how they were made over an intense 45-day period in New York in 1978 - and iPad drawings he made in 2010/11 during an extended period in Bridlington.

A section will feature items on loan from other collections. "The 'My Parents' painting, in the Tate, would be so relevant to this exhibition and is on my wishlist," said Jill.

Visitors will have chance to walk in the footsteps of the young Hockney, and see some of the paintings that were hanging in Cartwright Hall when he visited in his youth. On display will be photographs of him judging the first British International Print Biennale at Cartwright Hall in 1968, and original artwork created by his father, Kenneth, at a workshop there in 1974.

"Hockney was very much inspired by Cartwright Hall," says Jill. "At that time it was the only place in Bradford where you could see paintings. Before the internet, art wasn't so widely accessible. Hockney recalls that when he first came here he thought fine art was something artists did in their spare time. He came from an age when people went to art school to train for a job, often a commercial signwriter. That was how you made a living - not from being an artist."

Adds Jill: "There has never been a purely dedicated Hockney gallery before. Here in Bradford, where people are proud to call David Hockney their own, we've taken a more intimate approach than other exhibitions. It has been fascinating to look closely at the work he created while still living in Bradford. Visitors will see some revealing early practice and influences on an artist widely recognised for his sun-drenched LA swimming pools and colourful East Yorkshire hills.”

It is hoped the new gallery will inspire visitors, especially young people. "I hope children coming to the gallery will be inspired by what he did in those early days, and what he went on to achieve," said Jill.

It is not yet known whether Hockney will visit the new gallery, re-tracing the steps he first took over 60 years ago. But he will be very much included in the 80th birthday celebrations in Lister Park.

"I told him there will be a mass sing-along of Happy Birthday. We'll film it and send it to him," said Jill. The David Hockney Gallery opens on July 7. Visit bradfordmuseums.org

David Hockney’s 80th birthday on Sunday will be marked with a day of events at Cartwright Hall and Lister Park. Handmade puppets themed around Hockney's work will be paraded through the park. The colourful centre-piece will be a large birthday cake, surrounded by 'human candles', to be unveiled during a sing-along of Happy Birthday.

Young visitors will have chance to practice iPad drawing, one of Hockney’s favourite methods of art, and five actors will portray five different periods of the artist’s career.

A Hockney disco in the park is inspired by one the Yorkshireman’s best-loved quotes: “I hate background music, I only like music in the foreground”. Guests will receive a blond toupee and round glasses from the ‘Hockneyfication station’ before hitting the dancefloor.

The birthday events have been created in partnership with live art experience company Brick Box, whose work includes Rio Occupation, held in London for the 2012 Olympics.

Brick Box and Cartwright Hall have been working with people of the same generation as Hockney in a number of Bradford care homes and day centres to create People in the Landscape, a giant photo montage forming a striking image of local landscapes. The montage will play homage to Hockney’s more recent photographic work, allowing audiences to explore these techniques through the prism of Bradford lives, landscapes and history. It will be displayed in Cartwright Hall’s Garden Gallery.