What is your idea of perfect happiness?
When I’m sleeping.
What is your greatest fear?
Heights.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Picasso.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
That I give way too quickly.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
That they don’t give way quickly.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Baden-Baden.
What is your favorite journey?
The drive to Baden-Baden.
On what occasion do you lie?
When it’s necessary.
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
My round shoulders.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My family.
When and where were you happiest?
Happiness seems to me a retrospective pleasure.
Which talent would you most like to have?
To play the piano.
What is your most marked characteristic?
Deafness.
What is your current state of mind?
I’m fine, thank you.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My hearing.
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
Their hearing.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My art.
Where would you like to live?
Where I live now.
What is your favorite occupation?
Doing my work.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Honesty.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Honesty.
What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Picasso.
What are your favorite names?
Henry.
How would you like to die?
Laughing, and at home.
(Vanity Fair‘s Proust interview with David Hockney)
