Name: Pyronin Y
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

Damien Hirst's Pyronin Y (signed), an etching from 2005, is estimated to be worth between £12,000 and £18,000. This artwork has been sold 11 times at auction since its initial sale on 3rd April 2008. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £6,599 in October 2023 to £13,000 in November 2021. The average annual growth rate of this piece is 2% and the edition size is limited to 65.

Meaning & Analysis

Pyronin Y is a signed etching by Damien Hirst from 2005. The print shows many spots, methodically arranged into rows and each depicted in a unique colour. Set against a plain, white backdrop, this print has a sterile and simplistic aesthetic that makes the spot paintings so distinct and instantly recognisable.

The composition is a tight knit mesh of spots set against a plain white backdrop, the bright and round coloured spots bright and buzzing. The colour and arrangement appear to be seemingly random and with infinite possibilities in their display. Fascinated by intuitive colour choice from his days at Goldsmiths, Hirst claims that the spot paintings have removed any problems he previously had with colour, allowing him to present a perfect arrangement of colour that is never repeated.

Pyronin Y is reminiscent of Hirst’s vast series of spot paintings, of which there are over 1000 in existence, dating from 1986 to 2011. The spots represent abstraction reduced to its most basic mechanisms: colour, form and composition. The grid formula for these paintings is the basis for an unbounded series where Hirst can infinitely explore harmonious and contrasting colour combinations.

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.