{"id":8348,"date":"2025-06-03T17:25:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/phillips-bets-on-damien-hirst-as-the-artist-plots-a-200-year-legacy\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T17:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:26:01","slug":"phillips-bets-on-damien-hirst-as-the-artist-plots-a-200-year-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/phillips-bets-on-damien-hirst-as-the-artist-plots-a-200-year-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillips Bets On Damien Hirst as the Artist Plots a 200-Year Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Damien Hirst, The Virtues<\/em>, 2021; estimate: \u00a360,000-80,000. Phillips<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Loved and hated in equal measure, Damien Hirst<\/a> has always embodied the full-throttle provocation of the Young British Artists\u2014fun, controversial and unapologetically brash. Though his market has seen fluctuations in recent years, demand remains strong because the artist-entrepreneur has expertly capitalized on his fame and brand. Hirst has produced an impressive range of works for all pockets, from disturbing museum pieces like his infamous formaldehyde animals<\/a> to glittering gold fossils destined for resorts and casinos and more approachable editions that speak to entry-level collectors.<\/p>\n

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The popularity\u2014and notoriety\u2014of Britain\u2019s perennial enfant terrible<\/i> was evident last month when robbers rammed a blue Mercedes into the front window of a Mayfair auction house. Police believe the dramatic entry was an attempt to steal one of Hirst\u2019s works scheduled to hit the block at Phillips<\/a> on Thursday, June 5, with a high estimate of \u00a380,000. According to authorities, no arrests have been made, but the investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Phillips London is again going all in with a standalone live sale dedicated entirely to Damien Hirst, showcasing key editions from across his career at various price points. \u201cDamien Hirst remains one of the most influential and collectible artists of our time,\u201d specialist Rebecca Tooby-Desmond<\/a>, head of the sale, told Observer. \u201cThe market for the artist\u2019s work continues to show strong global demand, attracting both established collectors and a new generation of buyers, with collectors ranging in age from their early 20s to late 80s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sale is calibrated to that range, offering a curated selection of editions and unique works on paper that span Hirst\u2019s enduring obsessions with life, death and resurrection\u2014from early spot etchings and kaleidoscopic butterfly prints to his more recent cherry blossom paintings. Among the highlights is the complete Where the Land Meets the Sea<\/i> series, released at Phillips in 2023, and The Virtues<\/i>, a standout from his celebrated eight-part Cherry Blossoms<\/i>, which debuted at Fondation Cartier pour l\u2019art contemporain in Paris in 2021. That show\u2014Hirst\u2019s first major solo exhibition in France\u2014was a strategic attempt to relaunch his market and later traveled to The National Art Center in Tokyo, marking his debut solo outing in Japan as well.<\/p>\n

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During Frieze week in 2022, Damien Hirst burnt thousands of physical artworks that corresponded to NFTs. Photo by Jeff Spicer\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though Hirst\u2019s market has wavered in recent years, he\u2019s proven remarkably adept at reigniting interest, whether by jumping into NFTs or, more recently, planning his posthumous career. In July 2021, Hirst launched a collection of 10,000 NFTs paired with corresponding physical artworks, giving collectors a choice: keep the NFT or exchange it for the physical piece. During that year\u2019s Frieze Week, Hirst burned 4,851 physical works linked to NFTs<\/a> in a theatrical, self-destructive gesture that questioned the value of art in its physical versus digital form while confronting issues of authenticity, originality and monetary value tied to both.<\/p>\n

Damien Hirst is designing a posthumous practice measured in centuries<\/h3>\n

As he approaches his 60th birthday in just a few days, Damien Hirst has announced an audacious and on-brand plan to keep producing new work for 200 years after his death. He\u2019s preparing 200 handwritten notebooks, each filled with detailed concepts for artworks to be executed\u2014one per year\u2014long after he\u2019s gone. With this move, Hirst isn\u2019t merely trying to outlive his peers; he\u2019s aiming to outlast the art world itself, pushing the Warholian factory model to its most extreme, time-defying conclusion: a perpetual machine for iconicity.<\/p>\n

Like Warhol before him, Hirst has long been preoccupied with death: ironic, pop-tinged and existential in equal measure. Beneath the formaldehyde and gloss lies a deeper inquiry into the fleeting nature of beauty, the cycles of time and the inherent absurdity of human feeling\u2014delivered with a wink and a scalpel.<\/p>\n

Described as the richest British artist, Hirst saw his average selling price rise from \u00a38,000 to \u00a39,600 between 2021 and 2022, marking the high point of his recent market run. That range also reflects where the heat is: in the lower price band, where his prolific output remains most accessible. In 2024, Hirst\u2019s total auction sales reached approximately $26.6 million across paintings, sculptures and editions, pushing him up the 2025 Hiscox Artist Top 100 ranking<\/a> from the 16th to 12th position\u2014keeping him firmly on the higher end of the list. His top auction result remains Lullaby Spring<\/i>, a steel cabinet filled with thousands of hand-painted pills, which fetched \u00a39.6 million ($19.2 million) at Sotheby\u2019s London in June 2007.<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO:<\/b> What the Art World Needs to Know About the Next Generation of Museum Patrons<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A similar online-only auction held by Phillips last October brought in over \u00a31 million with a 95 percent sell-through rate\u2014further evidence of the artist\u2019s strength in the print segment, which accounted for \u00a32.4 million in sales in 2024. \u201cWith momentum continuing to build and his 60th birthday on June 7, this is a timely celebration of an artist whose impact on contemporary art remains profound,\u201d Tooby-Desmond told Observer.<\/p>\n

Set for June 5, the Hirst auction will launch Phillips\u2019 Editions Week, which also includes prints and multiples by Pablo Picasso<\/a>, Francis Bacon<\/a>, Banksy<\/a>, Andy Warhol<\/a> and William Kentridge<\/a>, alongside contemporary stars like Yoshitomo Nara<\/a>, Grayson Perry<\/a> and Harland Miller<\/a>. Among the sale\u2019s flashier entries: Banksy\u2019s Flower Thrower Triptych (Grey)<\/i> (2019), estimated at \u00a3100,000-150,000, and Kate Moss: Original Colourway<\/i> (2005), with an estimate of \u00a370,000-90,000. Picasso appears with Minotaure aveugle guid\u00e9 par Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se au pigeon dans une nuit \u00e9toil\u00e9e<\/i> (est. \u00a360,000\u201380,000) and a ceramic Vase au d\u00e9cor pastel<\/i> (est. \u00a310,000-15,000). And of course, Warhol\u2014the king of the print market\u2014is represented with African Elephant<\/i> from his Endangered Species<\/i> series and a complete set of his lurid Skulls<\/i> (1976), offered at \u00a360,000-80,000.<\/p>\n

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Damien Hirst, Exaltation<\/em>, from Enter the Infinite (The Visions)<\/em>, 2016; estimate: \u00a330,000-50,000. Phillips<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phillips\u2019 Damien Hirst auction<\/a> opens June 5, preceding the \u201cEvening & Day Editions<\/a>\u201d sales on June 5 and 6, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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