2023
British artist Damien Hirst is widely considered the enfant terrible of contemporary art. He is the most prominent of the so-called Young British Artists, or YBAs, a group, largely composed of Hirst’s classmates at Goldsmiths, in London, that began exhibiting together in warehouses and factories after 1988 and is known for the use of unconventional materials and “shock tactics” in his paintings, prints, sculptures and other works.
In the 1990s, Hirst said, “I can’t wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it.” And indeed, he is notorious for piquing critics and baffling the public with such pieces as his signature glass vitrines containing dead sheep or sharks in formaldehyde, and his diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God.
Working primarily in sculpture, Hirst takes after French modernist master Marcel Duchamp in his use of ready-made objects and materials, which he combines to ironic effect. He often creates in series, as with "The Cure (Violet)" and "The Cure (Turquoise)," both from 2014, which are among several pill paintings referencing Andy Warhol’s embrace of mass production.
Belonging to Hirst's ongoing series of “spot” paintings, begun in the 1980s, the 2005 piece Xylene Cyanol Dye Solution is striking for its machinelike, industrial uniformity and almost childlike simplicity, a seeming rebuke to the idea of the artist-as-genius.
In addition to making art, Hirst has launched stores that sell editioned works (Other Criteria), a restaurant (Pharmacy2) and even his own London museum (Newport Street Gallery).
Find original Damien Hirst paintings, prints and other works on 1stDibs.
Large Hidden Gardens Oil Painting
By Damien Hirst
Located in London, GB
Created using a bright, rich palette, Hidden Gardens further explores Hirst’s obsession with lush landscapes and playing with perspective. These densely-layered works bridge traditio...
Canvas, Oil
The Currency Unique Painting in the Heni Prescribed Frame
By Damien Hirst
Located in London, GB
2016 Enamel paint on handmade paper 20 x 30 cm Hand signed, dated and titled by Damien Hirst Mint condition, framed in the Heni prescribed frame Damien Hirst (born 1965) rose to pr...
Enamel
The Currency Unique Painting, I'll Need You To Be
By Damien Hirst
Located in London, GB
The Currency, launched in July 2021, is a collection of 10,000 NFTs which correspond with 10,000 original artworks by Damien Hirst. Collectors were given the choice to either keep th...
Enamel
The Currency Unique Painting, Better Hold Your Nose
By Damien Hirst
Located in London, GB
The Currency, launched in July 2021, is a collection of 10,000 NFTs which correspond with 10,000 original artworks by Damien Hirst. Collectors were given the choice to either keep th...
Enamel
The Currency Unique Painting
By Damien Hirst
Located in London, GB
The Currency, launched in July 2021, is a collection of 10,000 NFTs which correspond with 10,000 original artworks by Damien Hirst. Collectors were given the choice to either keep th...
Enamel
The Currency Unique Painting
By Damien Hirst
Located in London, GB
2016 Enamel paint on handmade paper 20 x 30 cm Hand signed, dated and titled by Damien Hirst Mint condition in the original packaging Unframed Damien Hirst (born 1965) rose to prom...
Enamel
HG66 - Playful Chaos Hidden Garden, 2023
By Damien Hirst
Located in Manchester, GB
Damien Hirst, HG66 - Playful Chaos Hidden Gardens, 2023 Oil on canvas presented in a white, hand-painted wooden frame 62.3 x 45 cm (24.5 x 17.7 in) Original artwork Hand-Signed by D...
Canvas, Oil
Cannizaro H4-4 Damien Hirst Contemporary Art Diasec-mounted Giclée Print Street
By Damien Hirst
Located in Draper, UT
Damien Hirst Cannizaro H4-4 Diasec-mounted Giclée print on aluminium panel 920 x 1260 MM Edition size: 75 + 5 AP signed and numbered from an edition of 75 verso, published by HENI Editions; sheet: 92 x 126cm Damien Hirst first came to public attention in London in 1988 when he conceived and curated "Freeze," an exhibition in a disused warehouse that showed his work and that of his friends and fellow students at Goldsmiths College. In the nearly quarter of a century since that pivotal show (which would come to define the Young British Artists), Hirst has become one of the most influential artists of his generation. His groundbreaking works include The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), a shark in formaldehyde; Mother and Child Divided (1993) a four-part sculpture of a bisected cow and calf; and For the Love of God (2007), a human skull studded with 8,601 diamonds. In addition to his installations and sculptures, Hirst’s Spot paintings...
Metal
'Tolerance' Abstract Print in Archival Ink, 2010+, Signed, 120x93 CM
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
Damien Hirst is a British contemporary master artist and entrepreneur recognized for his iconic artworks that have defined the contemporary art world for over a decade. He is one of ...
Archival Ink
Wisdom Print, Abstract Style, Archival Ink, 2010+, New, 120x93 CM
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
Damien Hirst is a British contemporary master artist and entrepreneur recognized for his iconic artworks that have defined the contemporary art world for over a decade. He is one of ...
Archival Ink
Knowledge Print by Damien Hirst, Abstract, Archival Ink, 2010+
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
Damien Hirst is a British contemporary master artist and entrepreneur recognized for his iconic artworks that have defined the contemporary art world for over a decade. He is one of ...
Archival Ink
Resolution Print, Abstract Style, Archival Ink, 2010+, New, 120x93 cm
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
Damien Hirst is a British contemporary master artist and entrepreneur recognized for his iconic artworks that have defined the contemporary art world for over a decade. He is one of ...
Archival Ink
Once built for curbs and handrails, these boards now hang beside blue-chip works in major museums and collectors’ homes.
Fierceness and fragility coalesce as the British artist revisits a cherished motif — the butterfly.
