One of David Hockney's most famous paintings is expected to fetch up to £3 million when it goes under the hammer next month.

The artist's 1966 masterpiece The Splash has been in a private collection in California for the past 20 years.

In his distinctive minimalist style, the work depicts the instant after someone has dived into a swimming pool.

It is the second painting in a series of three, with A Bigger Splash in the collection at the Tate Modern and A Little Splash in private hands.

Last week a painting Mr Hockney first sold for a few hundred pounds set a world auction house record for the artist by fetching £1.9 million at Christie's in New York.

His oil and acrylic on canvas painting called A Neat Lawn, which was painted in California in 1967, was sold at Christie's in New York by a private collector to an undisclosed Asian buyer.

After the sale Mr Hockney told the Telegraph & Argus that he had originally sold the painting for about £500 or £600 which he described as being "quite a lot of money at the time."

Paintings by Mr Hockney, who is widely regarded as Britain's greatest living artist, have commanded huge prices at auction in recent years.

He was born in Bradford in 1937 and spent his early years in Eccleshill. After leaving Bradford Grammar School he spent three years at Bradford School of Art.

He then completed a post-graduate degree at the Royal College of Art in London. He moved to California at the end of 1963 which has since been his main home.

In 2000 he was honoured with the title of Freeman of the City of Bradford.

The Splash will be on show at Sotheby's in central London until it goes up for auction on June 21, with an estimate of between £2.2 million and £3 million.

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