Name: Beautiful, Galactic, Exploding
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Damien Hirst’s Beautiful, Galactic, Exploding (signed) is estimated to be worth between £11,000 and £16,000. This screenprint, created in 2001, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 41%. This work has an auction history of 18 total sales since its entry to the market in March 2007. In the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £2,000 in December 2022 to £12,618 in November 2022. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 500.

Meaning & Analysis

Beautiful, Galactic, Exploding is a signed screen print in colours on wove paper produced by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst. The print is part of Hirst’s iconic series of Spin paintings. Rendered on a circular canvas using a spin machine, the print is composed of random patterns and splashes of vibrant paints. Created on a spinning surface, the multi-coloured print is exciting to look at and full of dynamism.

The spin paintings are an important part of Hirst’s oeuvre and the development of his artistic career. Hirst first experimented with spin art and using spin machines to produce artworks in 1992 at his studio in Brixton in London. It was in Brixton that he created Beautiful Ray of Sunshine On A Rainy Day Painting and Beautiful Where Did All The Colour Go Painting, both in 1992. Beautiful, Galactic, Exploding clearly follows from these early experimental works, emulating their long titles which begin with ‘beautiful’ and end in ‘painting,’ as well as their bold use of bright colours.

After experimenting with spin art and setting up a spin art stall with artist Angus Fairhurst, Hirst officially started creating the spin painting series in 1994 when he was living in Berlin. After investing in his own spin machine, Hirst produced a series of paintings which were exhibited at the Bruno Brunnet Contemporary Fine Arts gallery in Berlin, later that year.

Damien Hirst, born in Bristol in 1965, is often hailed the enfant terrible of the contemporary art world. His provocative works challenge conventions and his conceptual brilliance spans installations, paintings, and sculptures, often exploring themes of mortality and the human experience. As a leading figure of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement in the late '80s, Hirst's work has dominated the British art scene for decades and has become renowned for being laced with controversy, thus shaping the dialogue of modern art.