CURRENT OFFERING: DAMIEN HIRST

Release 21/11/2025 - 9 AM CET

Damien Hirst (b. 1965, Bristol, UK) is one of the most influential and commercially successful artists of his generation.

Hirst studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London (1986–1989), where he developed his distinctive artistic language and became a central figure in the emerging Young British Artists (YBAs) movement. During his time there, he organized the seminal student exhibition Freeze (1988), which launched his career and that of several peers. His Goldsmiths years established his reputation for challenging conventions and addressing provocative themes around life, death, and value.

Hirst rose to prominence in the 1990s as a leading YBA, alongside Tracey Emin and Marc Quinn, gaining critical and commercial acclaim for his conceptual and often controversial works. His use of animals suspended in formaldehyde and the diamond-encrusted skull For the Love of God (2007) became icons of contemporary art. In 1995, he won the Turner Prize for his installation Mother and Child Divided, cementing his position as one of Britain’s most important contemporary artists.

Throughout his career, Hirst has demonstrated a remarkable ability to reinvent his practice, creating distinct bodies of work such as the Spots, Spin Paintings, Butterflies, and Skulls. His wide-ranging practice spans installation, sculpture, painting, and drawing.

His most recognized works, including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991) and For the Love of God (2007), have established him as both a cultural phenomenon and a dominant figure in the global art market.

Since 1987, Hirst has held more than 90 solo exhibitions worldwide and participated in over 300 group shows. In 2012, Tate Modern presented a landmark retrospective as part of the Cultural Olympiad,

reaffirming his global significance. Other major solo exhibitions include the National Archeological Museum, Naples (2004); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2008); Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (2010); Oceanographic Museum, Monaco (2010); the Qatar Museums Authority: Al Riwaq, Doha (2013–2014); Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2015); Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Pinault Collection, Venice (2017); Haifa Museum, Israel (2019); Galleria Borghese, Rome (2021); Fondation Cartier, Paris (2021); the National Art Center, Tokyo (2022); MUCA, Munich (2023); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2024); and Albertina Modern, Vienna (2025).

Hirst’s work is represented in major international collections, including the British Museum; Tate; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Yale Center for British Art; The Broad Collection, Los Angeles; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Fondazione Prada, Milan; and Museo Jumex, Mexico City, among many others.

Selected Solo Shows:

·   2025

“Drawings”, Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria 

·   2024

“The Civilisation Paintings”, Phillips, London, UK

“To Live Forever (For a While)”, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico

“The Light That Shines”, Château La Coste, Aix-en-Provence, France

·   2023

“The Weight of Things”, Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), Munich, Germany

“Where the Land Meets the Sea”, Phillips, London, UK

·   2022

“The Currency”, Newport Street Gallery in collaboration with HENI, London, UK

“Natural History”, Gagosian, London, UK  

“Cherry Blossoms”, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan

“Myths, Legends and Monsters”, Gagosian, Gstaad, Switzerland

“Forgiving and Forgetting”, Gagosian, New York, USA

·   2021

“His Own Worst Enemy”, White Cube, Hong-Kong

“Emergency Paintings, Danger Paintings, Hazard Pictures and Seizures”, Gagosian, London, UK

“Forgiving and Forgetting”, Gagosian, Rome, Italy

“Cherry Blossoms”, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France

“Archaeology Now, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy

“Cathedrals Built on Sand”, Gagosian, Paris, France

“Relics and Fly Paintings”, Gagosian, London, UK

“Fact Paintings and Fact Sculpture”, Gagosian, London, UK

·   2020

“End of a Century”, Newport Street Gallery, London, UK

·   2019

“Mandalas”, White Cube, London, UK

·   2018

“Color Space Paintings”, Gagosian, New York, USA

“Colour Space Paintings and Outdoor Sculptures”, Houghton Hall, Norfolk, UK

“The Veil Paintings”, Gagosian, Los Angeles, USA

·   2017

“Visual Candy and Natural History”, Gagosian, Hong-Kong

“Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable”, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy

·   2016

“Damien Hirst: The Last Supper”, National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA

·   2015

“Damien Hirst”, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway

“Love”, Paul Stolper Gallery, London, UK

·   2014

“Black Scalpel Cityscapes”, White Cube, São Paulo, Brazil

"Schizophrenogenesis", Paul Stolper Gallery, London, UK

“Damien Hirst: The Psalms”, McCabe Fine Art, Stockholm, Sweden

·   2013

“Relics”, Quatar Museums’ Al Riwaq exhibition space, Doha, Qatar

“Entomology Cabinets and Paintings, Scalpel Blade Paintings and Colour Charts”, White Cube, Hong Kong

·   2012

“Two Weeks One Summer”, White Cube, London, UK

“Damien Hirst”, Tate Modern, London, UK

“Utopia”, Paul Stolper Gallery, London, UK

“The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011”, Gagosian – held in simultaneous locations, New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Honk Kong

Selected Group Shows:

·   2025

“Triple Trouble”, Newport Street Gallery in collaboration with HENI, London, UK

·   2024

“Le Monde Comme Il Va”, Bourse de Paris – Collection Pinault, Paris, France

“Duane Hanson | Damien Hirst”, Gagosian, London, UK

·   2023

“Before Tomorrow – Astrup Fearnley Museet”, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway

“Andy Warhol to Damien Hirst: The Revolution in Printmaking”, Albertina Modern, Vienna, Austria

“Reaching for the Stars: From Maurizio Cattelan to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye”, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy

·   2022

“Take Care: Art and Medicine: Wanderings through the history of illness and healing”, Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland

·   2021

“Essential Schemes”, Helwaser Gallery, New York, USA

“Hong Kong Exchange”, Gagosian, Hong-Kong

·   2020

“Love, Life, Death, and Desire: An Installation of the Center’s Collections”, Yale Center for British Art (YCBA), New Haven, USA

“Works On Paper From A Distinguished Private Collection”, Acquavella Galleries, Gagosian and Pace Gallery – joint exhibition , New York, USA

·   2019

“New Order: Art, Product, Image 1976-95”, Sprueth Magers, London, UK

“A Rebrousse Temps”, Musée Camille Claudel, Nogent-sur-Seine, France

“Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now”, Gagosian, London, UK

“Post Truth, Fake News & Alternative Facts”, Haifa Museum, Israel

·   2018

“Counterpoint: Selections from The Peter Marino Collection”, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, USA

“Dime-Store Alchemy”, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA

“Dancing With Myself”, Punta della Dogana – Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy

The work, Dead Head III, belongs to a broader body of work in which Hirst explores the universal themes of life, death, and the perception of mortality among the living. Although there is no officially titled sequence of works such as Dead Head I or Dead Head II, this painting is clearly connected to The Dead (2009), a seminal print series comprising thirty-one silkscreen prints of skulls rendered in vivid, contrasting colors. Both Dead Head III and The Dead were created in 2009, reflecting the artist’s sustained engagement with the skull motif during this period.

The skull holds a central place in Hirst’s visual language, serving as one of his most recognizable and enduring symbols. Its recurrence across multiple bodies of work—paintings, prints, and sculptures—has become synonymous with his artistic identity. This recognizability plays a key role in shaping the market appeal of such works, as the motif stands among Hirst’s most iconic and culturally resonant subjects.