David Hockney, one of the world's most famous artists, died on 11 June at age 88. His funeral took place in private nine days later, with no one allowed to attend except those closest to him. His publicist, Erica Bolton, made the announcement but gave no details about where it happened or who was there.

This kind of privacy was typical of how Hockney lived in his final years. Rather than mixing with London's art scene and attending gallery events, he spent much of his time in Normandy, in northern France. There, he created very large paintings using an iPad and painted landscapes. He would work intensely for months, then step back and stay out of the spotlight for a while.

Even the King noticed. King Charles III released a personal message saying Hockney was "a giant of the world of art". What made this especially significant: Hockney had turned down a knighthood — a major honor offered by the British government — more than once. He was famous, but he kept himself apart from the official establishment in ways many respected.

The Guardian, the BBC, and Artnet News all reported his death, each relying on what his publicist said. There was no additional statement from his family. The pattern reflected Hockney's approach to privacy throughout his later life.

A foundation set up in his name in 2008 now takes responsibility for his work and legacy. The David Hockney Foundation will preserve his archive and support art education. It will oversee everything he created over 70 years — from sketches he made as a student in the 1950s to his most famous paintings like A Bigger Splash, his Yorkshire landscapes, and the recent work done in Normandy. The Foundation will decide which paintings get shown in museums and when.

His art also matters in the world of buying and selling. In 2018, one of his paintings sold for $90.3 million — a world record for a living artist. That was a double portrait from 1972 called Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures). Now that he has died, people will probably want to buy his paintings even more. When a famous artist dies, prices can jump up fast. But as more paintings come on the market, prices settle down again. What people choose to show in museums also affects how valuable his work is seen to be.

There will be no big national ceremony or broadcast on television for Hockney — that was his choice, and the private funeral honors it. Instead, major art museums will likely hold big exhibitions of his work in the coming years. The Tate in London held a major show in 2017, and galleries in Los Angeles and Paris were close to him during his life. These museums will be the places where people see and remember his art.

What makes this moment complicated: Hockney was loved by many people. He had huge fans, people in the art world, and ordinary people who just enjoyed his paintings. But being loved so widely sometimes means the harder parts of his work get overlooked — the ways he was always experimenting with new forms and techniques. The Foundation and the museums now have to choose: will they show the full complexity of what he did, or a simpler version?