DAMIEN HIRST | Compassion

Haunch of Venison, London
Acquired directly from the above in 2007

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is more vibrant, and the background tends more towards bright orange in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. All collaged elements are stable. Very close inspection reveals a few small nicks, hairline scratches, media accretions and handling marks in isolated places to the frame. This work was inspected in its frame for the purposes of this report.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

An exuberant, elaborate mosaic of gold, cobalt, and tangerine, Compassion is a mesmerising example of Damien Hirst’s Butterfly Kaleidoscope paintings. Radiating with celestial beauty, the present work comprises thousands of individual and delicately patterned butterfly wings laid on a monochromatic surface. While the symmetry and iridescence of the composition evokes a carefully-constructed Renaissance Tondo of fine stained glass, the intricate and alluring patterns affirm the superior artistry of natural forces. The arrangement of colours and designs create an enthralling illusionistic space in which the central focal point appears to approach or recede from the viewer, expressing the elusive nature of its subject. Executed in 2007, Compassion emerged from a series that encapsulates one of Hirst’s most enduring motifs – the butterfly – as a spiritual symbol of love, religion, and death. By appropriating the visual language of stained-glass windows, themselves indelibly associated with great cathedrals, Christianity, and religious iconography, Hirst has aligned his work with the symbolic and metaphysical concerns that characterise those belief systems. The fear of mortality and the aspiration to eternal life are central to religion; Hirst’s meditation on this desire is suggested by his use of butterfly wings rather than glass, as their presence necessarily implies their demise, yet their lasting beauty in his canvas offers another form of life. Within Hirst’s deliberate artistic lexicon, the butterfly has come to signify the soul itself, evoking both the ephemerality and the abiding joy of life. As he himself has declared, “'I think I've got an obsession with death, but I think it’s like a celebration of life rather than something morbid. You can’t have one without the other” (Damien Hirst in: Gordon Burn and Damien Hirst, On the Way to Work, London 2011, p. 21).

Butterflies were an early source of inspiration for Hirst and have appeared frequently throughout his oeuvre to date. Inspired by Victorian lepidopterists, who bred and organised butterflies by category for scientific understanding, he began to arrange the insects by colour and created astonishing and complex geometric compositions like Compassion that appear to transform kaleidoscopically from various perspectives. From afar, these individual wings resemble jewel-like tesserae in a mosaic; brimming with hues of amethyst, garnet, amber and sapphire, their iridescent surfaces reflect and refract light so that the entire canvas scintillates and transforms. Up close, the individual specimens become visible and a panoply of species is suddenly and poignantly revealed, as each wing among thousands serves as a reminder of death. This conflict between the destruction of life and the creation of art has become the most central theme of Hirst’s career, forming the basis for works like Compassion, and offering a potent if paradoxical celebration of life.