Cathedral, Notre Dame
Cathedral, Notre Dame
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
£16,000-£23,000Value Indicator
$35,000-$45,000 Value Indicator
$29,000-$40,000 Value Indicator
¥150,000-¥220,000 Value Indicator
€18,000-€27,000 Value Indicator
$170,000-$240,000 Value Indicator
¥3,190,000-¥4,590,000 Value Indicator
$22,000-$30,000 Value Indicator
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120 x 120cm, Edition of 50, Screenprint
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Meaning & Analysis
Taken from Damien Hirst’s Cathedral series from 2007, Cathedral, Notre Dame is a screen print showing a symmetrical, kaleidoscopic pattern made up of many various butterfly wings. This intricate and mesmerising composition is depicted in blue, yellow, white, green and purple, forming a highly aesthetic image.
Evoking the rose windows of Gothic cathedrals, Hirst’s Cathedral series is reminiscent of his many kaleidoscopic paintings from the 2000s, the most comparable being his Superstition series from 2006. This series of pointed arch shaped paintings mimic the windows of a cathedral, obscuring the hundreds of butterfly wings that constitute its meticulous pattern.
Cathedral, Notre Dame is indicative of Hirst’s desire to bring together themes of science, aesthetics and religion through the leitmotif of the butterfly. Recalling someone once saying to him: ‘Butterflies are beautiful, but it’s a shame they have disgusting hairy bodies in the middle,’ Hirst in works like this chose only to display the dazzling wings of the insect. The butterfly has been used by the Greeks to depict Psyche, the soul, and in Christian imagery represents resurrection. In bringing together the fragility of the butterfly wings with the monumentality of religious art, Hirst investigates seemingly conflicting ideas that are at the core of humanity.
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.
