.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
"Butterflies give us hope because they look alive when they’re dead. They’re not rotting corpses." Damien Hirst
The search for beauty within death has been a constant endeavor for Damien Hirst throughout his artistic career. His artworks share with the viewer his exploration of life, death, beauty, religion, and science, and these ideas are well captured by one of his most iconic motifs: the butterfly. In particular, Hirst’s 2007 work Trinity I quintessentially encapsulates these themes through his use of triptych which mirrors religious altarpieces, as well as the butterfly, which represents science and the paradoxical beauty of life and death.
From early on, butterflies were a source of interest and inspiration for Hirst, as he recalls breeding them in his own bedroom. He began using them in his own works in the late 1980s, eventually leading to his first solo exhibition In & Out of Love in 1991, where “in a particularly humid room in Soho, he hung large white canvasses on which were glued butterfly pupae, ready to hatch. Emerging butterflies flew around the room, feeding on sugar water, rotting fruit and flowers before, with luck, mating and laying eggs for the next cycle of life. It caused a bit of a sensation” (P. Barkham, “Damien Hirst’s butterflies: distressing but weirdly uplifting,” The Guardian, April 2012). He found that even in death butterflies provide a sense of beauty and hopefulness, stating in an interview with Mirta D’Argenzio, “The death of an insect that still has this really optimistic beauty of a wonderful thing. I remember thinking about that” (Damien Hirst, in an interview with D’Argenzio in The Agony and the Ecstasy, Selected Works from 1989-2004, 2004, p. 83). Through his works, these butterflies were given a new sense of life and beauty.
The delicacy of the butterflies placements and translucent wings is one of the many aspects of Trinity I that makes it so beautiful. Scattered throughout the three primary colored sectors as if they landed there on their own, embedded in the world of lush color, the butterflies melt into the surface layered with thick gloss. His use of vast colors – red, yellow, and blue – is reminiscent of minimalist Ellsworth Kelly’s 1965 Red Yellow Blue II. It is clear, through the present lot specifically, that Hirst was enthused by the minimalist movement as a whole, remarking “I loved Minimalism because it was everything I wasn’t as a human being. It was a real surprise to me to fall in love with Minimalism” (Damien Hirst, in an interview with Nicholas Serota in Exhibition Catalogue, London, Tate, Damien Hirst, 2012, p. 93).
Through his use of vibrant and delicate butterfly wings, Hirst challenges viewers to consider the fleeting nature of life, beauty, and the concept of death itself. These works, specifically Trinity I, exemplifies Hirst’s endless imagination, creativity, and ability to create works that make a significant impact on the art world and continue to inspire discussion and debate.
The search for beauty within death has been a constant endeavor for Damien Hirst throughout his artistic career. His artworks share with the viewer his exploration of life, death, beauty, religion, and science, and these ideas are well captured by one of his most iconic motifs: the butterfly. In particular, Hirst’s 2007 work Trinity I quintessentially encapsulates these themes through his use of triptych which mirrors religious altarpieces, as well as the butterfly, which represents science and the paradoxical beauty of life and death.
From early on, butterflies were a source of interest and inspiration for Hirst, as he recalls breeding them in his own bedroom. He began using them in his own works in the late 1980s, eventually leading to his first solo exhibition In & Out of Love in 1991, where “in a particularly humid room in Soho, he hung large white canvasses on which were glued butterfly pupae, ready to hatch. Emerging butterflies flew around the room, feeding on sugar water, rotting fruit and flowers before, with luck, mating and laying eggs for the next cycle of life. It caused a bit of a sensation” (P. Barkham, “Damien Hirst’s butterflies: distressing but weirdly uplifting,” The Guardian, April 2012). He found that even in death butterflies provide a sense of beauty and hopefulness, stating in an interview with Mirta D’Argenzio, “The death of an insect that still has this really optimistic beauty of a wonderful thing. I remember thinking about that” (Damien Hirst, in an interview with D’Argenzio in The Agony and the Ecstasy, Selected Works from 1989-2004, 2004, p. 83). Through his works, these butterflies were given a new sense of life and beauty.
The delicacy of the butterflies placements and translucent wings is one of the many aspects of Trinity I that makes it so beautiful. Scattered throughout the three primary colored sectors as if they landed there on their own, embedded in the world of lush color, the butterflies melt into the surface layered with thick gloss. His use of vast colors – red, yellow, and blue – is reminiscent of minimalist Ellsworth Kelly’s 1965 Red Yellow Blue II. It is clear, through the present lot specifically, that Hirst was enthused by the minimalist movement as a whole, remarking “I loved Minimalism because it was everything I wasn’t as a human being. It was a real surprise to me to fall in love with Minimalism” (Damien Hirst, in an interview with Nicholas Serota in Exhibition Catalogue, London, Tate, Damien Hirst, 2012, p. 93).
Through his use of vibrant and delicate butterfly wings, Hirst challenges viewers to consider the fleeting nature of life, beauty, and the concept of death itself. These works, specifically Trinity I, exemplifies Hirst’s endless imagination, creativity, and ability to create works that make a significant impact on the art world and continue to inspire discussion and debate.