Name: The Cure (sunflower yellow, merlot, sapphire)
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 4.9 (183 reviews)

Meaning & Analysis

The Cure (sunflower yellow, merlot, sapphire) is a silkscreen print by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst on Somerset Tub. Produced in 2014, the print shows a two-colour pill, rendered by Hirst in merlot and sapphire against a sunflower yellow. The bold colours in this print clash with one another, unlike other prints in the series which favour different tones of the same colour. The bright and vibrant colours in this print resonate with the Pop Art style popularised by Andy Warhol in the 1960s. Warhol strongly influenced the work of Hirst and the development of his own visual language.

read more about The Cure

The Cure (sunflower yellow, merlot, sapphire) is one of thirty silkscreen prints that compose Hirst’s The Cure series. In this series, Hirst renders a singular pill in a combination of two colour tones against a bold and vibrant coloured backdrop. The series is inspired by modern medicine and reflects Hirst’s fascination with pharmaceutical companies and the important role they play in 21st century society. The minimalist aesthetic of the medicinal pill and pharmaceutical packaging was of great interest for Hirst and led to the creation of this series, as well as the Eat the Rich series, produced later in 2017.

Hirst’s interest in medicine reflects a wider preoccupation with the human body and themes of life and death which the artist often explored in his artworks. By making a pharmaceutical product into art, Hirst blurs the boundaries between art and science in this print, demanding that we appreciate the art behind science.