Damien Hirst Butterflies

The History of Damien Hirst & Butterflies

Hirst's earliest works featuring butterflies were his "Butterfly Paintings," which he created in the early 1990s. These works consisted of large, colourful canvases on which Hirst had glued real butterfly wings in intricate patterns. The butterfly wings created a visual effect that was both beautiful and unsettling, as the viewer was confronted with the stark contrast between the bright, vibrant colours of the wings and the dark, sombre background of the canvas. In the mid-1990s, Hirst began incorporating live butterflies into his installations. One of his most famous works from this period was "The Pharmacy," a large-scale installation that recreated a pharmacy complete with shelves of pill bottles and medicine containers. The walls of the pharmacy were lined with tanks containing live butterflies, which flew freely around the space.

In & Out of Love

Another notable work from this period was "In and Out of Love," a two-part installation that featured a room filled with live butterflies and a separate room containing empty pupae cases. The installation was designed to explore themes of life and death, transformation and decay. In the late 1990s, Hirst began creating large-scale installations featuring thousands of butterfly wings arranged in kaleidoscopic patterns. The Butterfly Kaleidoscope works were often exhibited in darkened rooms, with the butterfly wings illuminated by UV light to create a psychedelic, otherworldly effect.

Sanctum

Created in 2009, the series consists of 6 etchings, each an edition of 59 that features a kaleidoscopic image of a butterfly. The images are arranged in a circular pattern, with each butterfly pointing towards the centre of the circle. In the "Sanctum" series, he uses the butterfly as a central motif, exploring themes of beauty, mortality, and transformation. The circular arrangement of the butterflies suggests the cyclical nature of life and death, while the kaleidoscopic colours and patterns create a sense of dizzying movement and vitality

Memento

A portfolio of 13 etchings, each an edition of 30 sees life and death in direct confrontation in the brilliantly coloured butterflies and diamond clad skulls. The prints depict various different skull and butterfly images, ranging from simple, minimalist designs to more complex, colourful patterns.Death is portrayed in a more simplistic form whereas the vibrant butterflies fill the sheets with life.

Themes

Hirst's use of butterflies has also been associated with darker themes, such as death and decay. The Butterfly Kaleidoscope works, for example, were often seen as representations of the fragility of life and the inevitability of death, as the brightly coloured butterfly wings contrasted with the darkened, decaying spaces in which they were exhibited.

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