£18,000-£26,000 VALUE (EST.)
$35,000-$50,000 VALUE (EST.)
$30,000-$45,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥150,000-¥220,000 VALUE (EST.)
€20,000-€30,000 VALUE (EST.)
$170,000-$250,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥2,880,000-¥4,160,000 VALUE (EST.)
$22,000-$30,000 VALUE (EST.)
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
Screenprint, 2007
Signed Print Edition of 50
H 120cm x W 120cm
TradingFloor
Own this artwork?
Celine Fraser, Specialist
Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
March 2022 | Sotheby's Online - United Kingdom | Cathedral, Notre Dame - Signed Print | |||
March 2020 | Sotheby's Online - United Kingdom | Cathedral, Notre Dame - Signed Print | |||
January 2017 | Sotheby's Hong Kong - Hong Kong | Cathedral, Notre Dame - Signed Print | |||
October 2014 | Christie's New York - United States | Cathedral, Notre Dame - Signed Print | |||
October 2011 | Phillips New York - United States | Cathedral, Notre Dame - Signed Print |
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.