Damien Hirst. The rose window, Durham Cathedral, 2008
Damien Hirst. The rose window, Durham Cathedral, 2008 | Detail
Damien Hirst. The rose window, Durham Cathedral, 2008 | Detail
Damien Hirst. The rose window, Durham Cathedral, 2008 | Detail
Damien Hirst. The rose window, Durham Cathedral, 2008 | Detail
Provenance Artist's Studio Sotheby's Auction: Damien Hirst - Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, 15 September 2008, London, Lot 27 Gary Tatintsian Gallery
Exhibitions Damien Hirst. Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow. 31 March – 1 June, 2017
Damien Hirst has been using coloured butterfly wings to give a churchy, stained-glass window effect in painting. The dazzling symmetry of his Rose Window, constructed of butterflies and metallic paint on canvas, in which the fragility and extravagant color becomes the basis for a circular ornamental mosaic – straightforwardly replicates the medieval rose window at Durham Cathedral. It's a recurring image in art history, the butterfly as the soul: fragility and mortality as a fragile beauty of life.
Durham Cathedral’s Rose Window. Image by Peter Swan
Durham Cathedral’s Rose Window. Image by Sue York
Installation view from Damien Hirst personal show at Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow, 31.03 — 01.06.2017
Installation view from Damien Hirst personal show at Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow, 31.03 — 01.06.2017