DAMIEN HIRST
British contemporary artist known for confrontational concepts, powerful installations and thought-provoking exploration of life, death and human experience.
Biography
Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol and grew up in Leeds before moving to London in the mid-1980s to study art. He quickly became a leading figure in what would become the Young British Artists movement. His early exhibitions in the late 1980s and early 1990s helped define a radical era in British contemporary art, setting the tone for his long and influential career.
Over the decades, Hirst has worked across sculpture, installation, painting, curation and conceptual work. His practice revolves around human psychology, mortality, belief, science and spectacle — often provoking strong public reactions and debates regarding what art should be.
Practice & Themes
- Mortality & the body — explored through preserved animals, medical motifs and meditation on life and death.
- Science & belief systems — bridging clinical imagery with religious symbolism.
- Repetition & systems — from spot paintings to pill cabinets, questioning mass production and authorship.
- Commercial spectacle — challenging the boundaries between high art, celebrity and the global art market.
Career Overview
Hirst rose to international attention in the 1990s with landmark works including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living and Mother and Child Divided. His market-defining 2008 auction, in which he bypassed galleries and sold an entire new body of work directly through an auction house, remains a key moment in contemporary art history.
His work continues to be exhibited and collected globally, spanning blue-chip galleries, major institutions and private collections worldwide.
Legacy
Damien Hirst remains one of the most influential and debated figures in global contemporary art. His willingness to provoke, innovate and question the boundaries of art has secured his position as a defining voice of his generation.
