About Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst, Britain's most famous living artist and enfant terrible of the Young British Artists (YBAs), is a conceptual artist, painter, printmaker, and assemblagist. His deliberately provocative artwork addresses themes of vanitas, beauty, rebirth, medicine, and technology, often shocking audiences and invigorating public debate on contemporary art. Mastering artistic self-promotion, Hirst transformed the romantic ideal of the artist into an entrepreneurial figure of modern commerce.
Alongside Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, and Liam Gillick, Hirst became the leading figure of the YBAs. He attended Goldsmiths College in London and curated the formative Freeze exhibition in 1988, gaining the attention of media entrepreneur and art collector Charles Saatchi, an early patron who championed his career.
Damien Hirst refined Marcel Duchamp's concept of ready-made objects, presenting dead animals preserved in formaldehyde as fine art. In 1995, he won the prestigious Turner Prize with artworks including the controversial bisected cow and calf, titled Mother and Child (Divided). His preserved shark, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, became the centerpiece of Saatchi's iconic YBA exhibition, Sensation, at the Royal Academy in 1997.
Beyond installations and sculptures, Hirst's limited edition prints—particularly those based on his butterfly paintings and spot paintings—are universally recognized and highly collectible. His signed prints and fine art editions often involve creating artworks in series, emphasizing themes of repetition and variation. Collectors worldwide seek his lithographs, screenprints, and artist proofs for their bold visual impact and cultural significance.
Major solo exhibitions of Damien Hirst's artwork have been held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (2008) and Tate Modern in London (2012), cementing his status as one of the most influential figures in contemporary art. Born in 1965 in Bristol, Damien Hirst currently lives and works in London, United Kingdom.
