Name: The Cure (atomic tangerine, cornflower blue, ice blue)
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 4.9 (183 reviews)

Meaning & Analysis

The Cure (atomic tangerine, cornflower blue, ice blue) is a silkscreen print by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst. The print, produced in 2014, is rendered on Somerset Tub. In this print, Hirst depicts a two-colour pill. The pill is rendered in cornflower blue and ice blue against a bright atomic tangerine backdrop. The print is dominated by bold and vibrant colours, reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s Pop Art prints which the American artist produced in the 1960s.

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The Cure (atomic tangerine, cornflower blue, ice blue) is one of thirty silkscreen prints that compose Hirst’s The Cure series. Each print in this series shares the same format: a single pill rendered in two-colours against a bright block coloured backdrop. The series reflects Hirst’s fascination with modern medicine. This has been a long-standing interest for the artist. While studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in the late 1980s, Hirst produced an installation series, known as the Medicine Cabinets series, in which he produced various cabinets that he filled with his grandmother’s old pill packets.

The minimalist aesthetic of The Cure resonates with the way the pharmaceutical industry exudes confidence in their healing abilities and privileges simple packaging to reflect their self-assured attitude. The manipulation of size in this print, with the pill dominating the composition, appearing unnaturally large, is another technique employed by Hirst to represent the confidence of the pharmaceutical industry.