Unique proof, annotated ‘U.P.’; one of 102 unique colour variants. The related six-print series was issued in editions of 72, with 18 artist’s proofs of each plate

Created in 2007, The Souls on Jacob’s Ladder Take Their Flight (Unique) belongs to Damien Hirst’s monumental exploration of the butterfly as a symbol of beauty, mortality and spiritual transformation. Executed in aquatint and photogravure on Arches paper, this impression is signed and annotated ‘U.P.’ in pencil and belongs to a group of 102 unique colour variants. It was published by The Paragon Press, London, and printed by Paupers Press.

A single butterfly is presented frontally against an expanse of saturated black. Its enlarged wings are articulated in vivid shades of blue, white and pink, while the dark outer edges echo the surrounding background. The exceptional scale and symmetrical presentation recall both scientific illustration and the display of a preserved specimen. Yet the intensity of the colour and the apparent extension of the wings give the insect a sense of animation, as though it might lift from the paper.

Hirst first introduced butterflies into his work during his 1991 exhibition In and Out of Love, in which living specimens emerged from pupae attached to canvases before completing their brief life cycles within the gallery. Since then, the butterfly has become one of his most persistent motifs. Its physical fragility and traditional association with resurrection allow Hirst to bring apparently opposing ideas—life and death, beauty and decay, scientific observation and religious belief—into close proximity.

The title refers to Jacob’s vision in the Book of Genesis, in which a ladder connects earth and heaven while angels ascend and descend upon it. By recasting these ascending figures as souls taking flight, Hirst draws upon the butterfly’s longstanding association with spiritual release and transformation. The unique colouration of the present proof further distinguishes it within a fundamentally reproductive medium, combining the serial logic of printmaking with the singularity conventionally associated with an original work.

A detailed condition report is available upon request.