Does Damien Hirst make NFTs?

Damien Hirst has indeed dipped his toe, or rather, dived headfirst into the world of NFTs and digital artwork, with his first venture The Currency, being produced in 2021. To find out more about The Currency and Hirst’s NFT artwork see our article on NFTs & Damien Hirst: The Digital vs The Physical.

Why is the H-10 The Empresses so important?

Damien Hirst's prints demonstrate a long-standing interest in butterflies, and The Empress collection perfectly captures his fascination with the creatures. In 1991, Hirst’s first solo exhibition in London In And Out Of Love revolved around a room full of live butterflies. As part of the exhibition, Hirst set up an artificially humid room in which he could breed butterflies to create an interactive art installation. Butterflies would be constantly hatching and flying around the exhibition space until they died. Butterflies have become a central component of Hirst’s visual language and the H-10 The Empresses collection resonates strongly with Hirst’s other collections that feature butterflies such as his Mandala paintings and the Kaleidoscope collection which the artist started in 2001.

How do I buy a H-10 The Empresses print?

One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of buying work by Damien Hirst is by using us to reach a seller. MyArtBroker is a curated site, meaning we feature artists that our collectors say they want. You can find Damien Hirst art for sale here. You’ll need to create a free account to buy or sell with us.

How can I sell my H-10 The Empresses print?

If you're looking to sell art by Damien Hirst, click the link and we can help. We employ a number of techniques and practices in order to give a realistic and achievable valuation on any art listed on myartbroker.com. We analyse the demand for the work in question, take into consideration previous sales and auction valuations, we assess the current gallery valuation and monitor the current deals taking place via MyArtBroker every day. We regularly advise sellers on a price bracket for their artwork completely free of charge.

H10 The Empresses by Damien Hirst Background & Meaning

H10
The Empresses

Visually stunning and drenched in crimson red, Damien Hirst’s 2022 H10 The Empresses is a set of 5 butterfly compositions, released as a print and NFT series for HENI Editions. The prints are laminated giclée on aluminium composite with screen printed glitter, each named after an Empress of notable reign.

Meaning & Analysis

Published by HENI editions in 2022, Hirst’s H10 The Empresses are a set of 5 intricate butterfly compositions, available as physical works or as NFTs. The H-10 The Empresses collection was completed by Hirst in 2022 and published by HENI Editions. Each laminated giclée print in the collection is printed on aluminium composite and screen printed with glitter which gives the prints a dazzling finish.

The prints in this collection are all named after an Empress, as indicated by the collection’s title. The Empresses Hirst chooses are all linked to notable historical periods in which they exerted significant influence. Wu Zetian, for example, was an important figure in the consolidation of the Tang Dynasty and Empress Theodora brought about notable changes to Byzantine society. Other Empresses that Hirst uses as inspiration for the collection are Nūr Jahān the de-facto Empress of the Mughal Empire, Suiko, the first recorded empress of Japan and Taytu Betul, the Empress of Ethiopia in the 19th century.

Damien Hirst's prints demonstrate a long-standing interest in butterflies, and The Empress collection perfectly captures his fascination with the creatures. In 1991, Hirst’s first solo exhibition in London In And Out Of Love revolved around a room full of live butterflies. As part of the exhibition, Hirst set up an artificially humid room in which he could breed butterflies to create an interactive art installation. Butterflies would be constantly hatching and flying around the exhibition space until they died. Butterflies have become a central component of Hirst’s visual language and the H-10 The Empresses collection resonates strongly with Hirst’s other collections that feature butterflies such as his Mandala paintings and the Kaleidoscope collection which the artist started in 2001.
One of the main reasons the artist was so drawn to this species of insect was because of the way they could be used to explore themes of life and death. Hirst explains that butterflies retain an iridescent beauty, even in death. The artist elaborates, “I love butterflies because when they are dead they look alive.” As is seen in the H-10 The Empresses collection, Hirst often makes art out of dead butterflies and despite the butterflies no longer being alive, the compositions he produces are filled with a beautiful and captivating energy and dynamism. For Hirst, butterflies embody the fragility of life and using this insect in his artworks is a means for the artist to address questions of mortality. Life, death and mortality are themes that Hirst often deals with in his art. Since the late 1980’s, Hirst has used various artistic practices, from installation to sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the relationship between art, life and death. The artist elaborates: “art’s about life and it can’t really be about anything else … there isn’t anything else.”
Butterflies also interest Hirst due to their spiritual heritage and the symbolic role the butterfly plays in many religions. The Greeks used butterflies to depict the Psyche and the soul, and butterflies are often found in Christian imagery to signify the resurrection. The intricate patterns of the compositions in the H-10 The Empresses collection resonate with Buddhist mandalas as well as the stained-glass windows found in Gothic churches. The spiritual heritage attached to the butterfly, along with the spectacular patterns Hirst creates in this collection means that these artworks are imbued with religious undertones. Religion is a prominent theme in Hirst’s artworks and the artist often finds inspiration in contemporary belief systems such as religion, love and medicine which bring out the tensions at the heart of human existence.
If you're looking to sell art by Damien Hirst, click the link and we can help. We employ a number of techniques and practices in order to give a realistic and achievable valuation on any art listed on myartbroker.com. We analyse the demand for the work in question, take into consideration previous sales and auction valuations, we assess the current gallery valuation and monitor the current deals taking place via MyArtBroker every day. We regularly advise sellers on a price bracket for their artwork completely free of charge.