Damien HIRST (born in 1965)
1994 Away from the Flock
2018 SOLD for $ 4.4M by Christie's
The display of a carcass in formaldehyde in imitation of a natural history museum is a signature theme for Damien Hirst. It is a tragedy of life and death. His first significant work, in 1991, was featuring a big tiger shark in a 213 × 520 × 213 cm tank and was titled The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living.
The theme is more shocking to the viewer if the animal is a quadruped than if it is a realistic floating fish. The lamb and the lost sheep are used as symbols in the Christian faith.
In 1994 Away from the Flock, a floor based glass vitrine 98 x 150 x 51 cm displaying a lamb, is an edition of three variants plus an artist's proof. The specific features of the artist's proof are its black head and legs and a slightly prancing attitude. It was sold for $ 4.4M by Christie's on May 17, 2018, lot 44 B.
In 1995 Mother and Child (Divided) features a bisected cow and a bisected calf split into four separate tanks.
Also made in 1995, a unique Away from the Flock (Divided) displays a fully grown sheep cut in half lengthwise and displayed in two narrowly separated tanks of formaldehyde 118 x 186 x 51 cm each. It was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 3.3M on May 9, 2006 and for £ 1.95M on February 13, 2013, lot 17.
With such unprecedented art, Hirst indeed does not consider himself in the flock.
The theme is more shocking to the viewer if the animal is a quadruped than if it is a realistic floating fish. The lamb and the lost sheep are used as symbols in the Christian faith.
In 1994 Away from the Flock, a floor based glass vitrine 98 x 150 x 51 cm displaying a lamb, is an edition of three variants plus an artist's proof. The specific features of the artist's proof are its black head and legs and a slightly prancing attitude. It was sold for $ 4.4M by Christie's on May 17, 2018, lot 44 B.
In 1995 Mother and Child (Divided) features a bisected cow and a bisected calf split into four separate tanks.
Also made in 1995, a unique Away from the Flock (Divided) displays a fully grown sheep cut in half lengthwise and displayed in two narrowly separated tanks of formaldehyde 118 x 186 x 51 cm each. It was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 3.3M on May 9, 2006 and for £ 1.95M on February 13, 2013, lot 17.
With such unprecedented art, Hirst indeed does not consider himself in the flock.
2000 The Void
2017 SOLD for $ 5.9M by Phillips
During his studies Damien Hirst works temporarily in a mortuary. He is shocked by the transition between life and death. As an artist he paradoxically devotes his work to this phenomenon which he does not understand.
The medicine accompanies this transition and becomes its symbol. As early as 1989, aged 24, he realizes some cabinet installations filled with boxes and bottles. One of them is entitled God.
A trigger happens ten years later during a night of insomnia, according to him. He keeps on shelves between a glass window and a mirror wall a high quantity of painted plaster pills, making sure that they are all different in shape, size or color. Each pill is positioned individually, well separated from the others by regular intervals, like never before a doctor or a patient would have thought for storing a medicine.
His first pill cabinets are monumental, bringing to the artist the notion of unlimited space that was lacking in his mystical quest. The effect of the individual pill, which is his atom or his quantum, will remain a mystery. Perhaps there is none : death is inevitable.
Hirst is not Thomas Aquinas : his pills do not answer an everlasting question that is perhaps only poorly expressed. Yet along his career he will continue to create works on this theme, smaller and less careful in the details for saving time.
On May 18, 2017, Phillips sold for $ 5.9M one of the earliest pill cabinets, lot 8. Made in 2000, it is monumental : 236 x 470 x 11 cm. It is titled The Void. Please watch the video shared by Phillips.
The medicine accompanies this transition and becomes its symbol. As early as 1989, aged 24, he realizes some cabinet installations filled with boxes and bottles. One of them is entitled God.
A trigger happens ten years later during a night of insomnia, according to him. He keeps on shelves between a glass window and a mirror wall a high quantity of painted plaster pills, making sure that they are all different in shape, size or color. Each pill is positioned individually, well separated from the others by regular intervals, like never before a doctor or a patient would have thought for storing a medicine.
His first pill cabinets are monumental, bringing to the artist the notion of unlimited space that was lacking in his mystical quest. The effect of the individual pill, which is his atom or his quantum, will remain a mystery. Perhaps there is none : death is inevitable.
Hirst is not Thomas Aquinas : his pills do not answer an everlasting question that is perhaps only poorly expressed. Yet along his career he will continue to create works on this theme, smaller and less careful in the details for saving time.
On May 18, 2017, Phillips sold for $ 5.9M one of the earliest pill cabinets, lot 8. Made in 2000, it is monumental : 236 x 470 x 11 cm. It is titled The Void. Please watch the video shared by Phillips.
2002 Lullaby Cabinet
1
Lullaby Spring
2007 SOLD for £ 9.7M by Sotheby's
Damien Hirst has built his career on the psychological impossibility of death, which is nevertheless a real and inevitable fact. By 1992, only one year after his first immersions of animals in formaldehyde, he worships pharmacy considered as a beneficial link between life and death.
The twentieth century had experienced the development of abstract art. The basic symbol of his pharmacy is the pill whose geometry and color may vary on artist's discretion without imposing a realistic structure. It is estimated that the artist created about 23 pill cabinets between 1999 and 2010.
In the following of impressionism and expressionism, Hirst appropriates the seasons for a symbolist variation in the colors of his pills. This phase of creativity culminates with four models of pharmaceutical cabinets made in 2002 in stainless steel and glass. Each of these installations, 183 x 274 x 10 cm, displays several thousand of pills painted in various colors with a visual effect doubled by a back mirror wall.
The 2002 Lullaby Spring cabinet with 6,136 fake pills on its shelves was sold for £ 9.7M by Sotheby's on June 21, 2007 from a lower estimate of £ 3M, lot 36. One month earlier the Lullaby Winter had been recorded at $ 7.4M at Christie's.
The twentieth century had experienced the development of abstract art. The basic symbol of his pharmacy is the pill whose geometry and color may vary on artist's discretion without imposing a realistic structure. It is estimated that the artist created about 23 pill cabinets between 1999 and 2010.
In the following of impressionism and expressionism, Hirst appropriates the seasons for a symbolist variation in the colors of his pills. This phase of creativity culminates with four models of pharmaceutical cabinets made in 2002 in stainless steel and glass. Each of these installations, 183 x 274 x 10 cm, displays several thousand of pills painted in various colors with a visual effect doubled by a back mirror wall.
The 2002 Lullaby Spring cabinet with 6,136 fake pills on its shelves was sold for £ 9.7M by Sotheby's on June 21, 2007 from a lower estimate of £ 3M, lot 36. One month earlier the Lullaby Winter had been recorded at $ 7.4M at Christie's.
2
Lullaby Winter
2007 recorded at $ 7.4M by Christie's, UNPAID
2015 SOLD for £ 3.05M by Christie's
The Lullaby Winter executed in 2002 was sold for $ 7.4M by Christie's on 16 May 2007. It was later reported that it was unpaid at that sale. It remained in Christie's ownership until being sold from £ 3.05M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M on February 11, 2015, lot 21.
2002-2004 Eternity
2007 SOLD for £ 4.7M by Phillips de Pury
In his exploration of the borderline between life and death, Hirst early included the use of butterfly wings as an additional pictorial material. As early as 1991, he managed to exhibit dead and live insects together. The diversity of the vibrant natural colors brings the effect of a kaleidoscope. Conservationists may dispute the number of specimens required to fill large surfaces.
Dated 2002-2004, Eternity is an early example of the restart of that technique, made of butterflies and thick gloss household paint on canvas 215 x 535 cm. It was sold for £ 4.7M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Phillips de Pury on October 13, 2007, lot 239. Art indeed brought eternity to these thousand of short lived insects.
Made in 2006, one of the largest of his kaleidoscopes of butterflies was sold for £ 2.17M by Christie's on October 14, 2010, lot 17. The vast surface of 213 x 533 cm is filled with two figures of concentric circles made of butterfly wings arranged on a background of thick deep red paint, reminding rose windows in a church. Its title is : I am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds.
Dated 2002-2004, Eternity is an early example of the restart of that technique, made of butterflies and thick gloss household paint on canvas 215 x 535 cm. It was sold for £ 4.7M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Phillips de Pury on October 13, 2007, lot 239. Art indeed brought eternity to these thousand of short lived insects.
Made in 2006, one of the largest of his kaleidoscopes of butterflies was sold for £ 2.17M by Christie's on October 14, 2010, lot 17. The vast surface of 213 x 533 cm is filled with two figures of concentric circles made of butterfly wings arranged on a background of thick deep red paint, reminding rose windows in a church. Its title is : I am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds.
2007 When there's a will, there's a way
2008 SOLD for $ 7.2M by Sotheby's
As early as 2004, Damien Hirst offered in a dedicated sale at Sotheby's brand new works of his recent production, mainly on his usual theme of the pharmacy. Entitled The Fragile Truth, a large pharmacy cabinet was sold for £ 1.4M.
In June 2007, Hirst exhibited in a gallery For the love of God, a life size platinum skull inlaid with diamonds with human teeth. This work of 2007 presented for private sale at £ 50M was sold in August at that price to a consortium of buyers including himself.
On February 14, 2008 Hirst and Bono, the leading man of U2, managed with Sotheby's a charity sale, inviting their artists friends to offer works on the theme of the red color. That 'RED' sale resulted in $ 42M for organizations fighting against AIDS in Africa. The works had been exhibited at the Gagosian Gallery.
Hirst prepared in 2007 for RED a replica installation of the Lullaby pill cabinet in the original size, 183 x 274 x 10 cm. Titled Where there's a will, there's a way, it was sold for $ 7.2M, lot 54.
In June 2007, Hirst exhibited in a gallery For the love of God, a life size platinum skull inlaid with diamonds with human teeth. This work of 2007 presented for private sale at £ 50M was sold in August at that price to a consortium of buyers including himself.
On February 14, 2008 Hirst and Bono, the leading man of U2, managed with Sotheby's a charity sale, inviting their artists friends to offer works on the theme of the red color. That 'RED' sale resulted in $ 42M for organizations fighting against AIDS in Africa. The works had been exhibited at the Gagosian Gallery.
Hirst prepared in 2007 for RED a replica installation of the Lullaby pill cabinet in the original size, 183 x 274 x 10 cm. Titled Where there's a will, there's a way, it was sold for $ 7.2M, lot 54.
2008 Beautiful Inside my Head Forever
Intro
Damien Hirst managed with Sotheby's a two day solo sale of his most recent art, by-passing the galleries. This event titled Beautiful Inside my Head Forever happened on September 15 and 16, 2008, and fetched £ 111M overall.
This successful auction happened just in time, while the financial market was crashing with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
This successful auction happened just in time, while the financial market was crashing with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
1
The Golden Calf
2008 SOLD for £ 10.3M by Sotheby's
The Golden Calf is a bull crowned by a golden disk featured in a glass aquarium of formaldehyde 320 x 137 cm above a high marble plinth. The horns and hooves are also in gold. Hirst associates religion and death in the title and subject. It was sold for £ 10.3M, lot 13.
In the same sale, The Black Sheep with the Golden Horn, displayed in a tank 110 x 162 x 64 cm without plinth, was sold for £ 2.6M, lot 9.
In the same sale, The Black Sheep with the Golden Horn, displayed in a tank 110 x 162 x 64 cm without plinth, was sold for £ 2.6M, lot 9.
2
The Kingdom
2008 SOLD for £ 9.6M by Sotheby's
The Kingdom features a tiger shark with a wide opened mouth, in a glass aquarium of formaldehyde 130 x 380 cm above a high steel plinth.
It was sold for £ 9.6M from a lower estimate of £ 4M, lot 5.
It was sold for £ 9.6M from a lower estimate of £ 4M, lot 5.
3
Fragments of Paradise
2008 SOLD for £ 5.2M by Sotheby's
Hirst prepared in 2008 another replica of his 2002 Lullaby cabinets, in the same size 183 x 274 x 10 cm. Titled Fragments of Paradise, it was sold for £ 5.2M from a lower estimate of £ 1M, lot 51.
Memories of / Moments with you is an installation of two pill cabinets 91 x 137 x 10 cm each for an overall length of 315 cm. It was sold for £ 2.6M from a lower estimate of £ 800K, lot 11 in the same sale.
Memories of / Moments with you is an installation of two pill cabinets 91 x 137 x 10 cm each for an overall length of 315 cm. It was sold for £ 2.6M from a lower estimate of £ 800K, lot 11 in the same sale.
4
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
2008 SOLD for £ 2.95M by Sotheby's
Here today Gone tomorrow is a monumental four winged glass showcase 204 cm high and 370 x 370 cm overall on the floor. It displays on five levels two rows of small glass tanks, each one with a fish floating in the formaldehyde. The position of the displays may be changed. Fish bones are also announced in the description of the catalogue.
It was sold for £ 2.95M, lot 46.
It was sold for £ 2.95M, lot 46.
