Loved and hated in equal measure, Damien Hirst has always embodied the full-throttle provocation of the Young British Artists—fun, controversial and unapologetically brash. Though his market has seen fluctuations in recent years, demand remains strong because the artist-entrepreneur has expertly capitalized on his fame and brand. Hirst has produced an impressive range of works for all pockets, from disturbing museum pieces like his infamous formaldehyde animals to glittering gold fossils destined for resorts and casinos and more approachable editions that speak to entry-level collectors.
The popularity—and notoriety—of Britain’s perennial enfant terrible was evident last month when robbers rammed a blue Mercedes into the front window of a Mayfair auction house. Police believe the dramatic entry was an attempt to steal one of Hirst’s works scheduled to hit the block at Phillips on Thursday, June 5, with a high estimate of £80,000. According to authorities, no arrests have been made, but the investigation is ongoing.
Phillips London is again going all in with a standalone live sale dedicated entirely to Damien Hirst, showcasing key editions from across his career at various price points. “Damien Hirst remains one of the most influential and collectible artists of our time,” specialist Rebecca Tooby-Desmond, head of the sale, told Observer. “The market for the artist’s work continues to show strong global demand, attracting both established collectors and a new generation of buyers, with collectors ranging in age from their early 20s to late 80s.”
The sale is calibrated to that range, offering a curated selection of editions and unique works on paper that span Hirst’s enduring obsessions with life, death and resurrection—from early spot etchings and kaleidoscopic butterfly prints to his more recent cherry blossom paintings. Among the highlights is the complete Where the Land Meets the Sea series, released at Phillips in 2023, and The Virtues, a standout from his celebrated eight-part Cherry Blossoms, which debuted at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris in 2021. That show—Hirst’s first major solo exhibition in France—was a strategic attempt to relaunch his market and later traveled to The National Art Center in Tokyo, marking his debut solo outing in Japan as well.
Though Hirst’s market has wavered in recent years, he’s proven remarkably adept at reigniting interest, whether by jumping into NFTs or, more recently, planning his posthumous career. In July 2021, Hirst launched a collection of 10,000 NFTs paired with corresponding physical artworks, giving collectors a choice: keep the NFT or exchange it for the physical piece. During that year’s Frieze Week, Hirst burned 4,851 physical works linked to NFTs in a theatrical, self-destructive gesture that questioned the value of art in its physical versus digital form while confronting issues of authenticity, originality and monetary value tied to both.
Damien Hirst is designing a posthumous practice measured in centuries
As he approaches his 60th birthday in just a few days, Damien Hirst has announced an audacious and on-brand plan to keep producing new work for 200 years after his death. He’s preparing 200 handwritten notebooks, each filled with detailed concepts for artworks to be executed—one per year—long after he’s gone. With this move, Hirst isn’t merely trying to outlive his peers; he’s aiming to outlast the art world itself, pushing the Warholian factory model to its most extreme, time-defying conclusion: a perpetual machine for iconicity.
Like Warhol before him, Hirst has long been preoccupied with death: ironic, pop-tinged and existential in equal measure. Beneath the formaldehyde and gloss lies a deeper inquiry into the fleeting nature of beauty, the cycles of time and the inherent absurdity of human feeling—delivered with a wink and a scalpel.
Described as the richest British artist, Hirst saw his average selling price rise from £8,000 to £9,600 between 2021 and 2022, marking the high point of his recent market run. That range also reflects where the heat is: in the lower price band, where his prolific output remains most accessible. In 2024, Hirst’s total auction sales reached approximately $26.6 million across paintings, sculptures and editions, pushing him up the 2025 Hiscox Artist Top 100 ranking from the 16th to 12th position—keeping him firmly on the higher end of the list. His top auction result remains Lullaby Spring, a steel cabinet filled with thousands of hand-painted pills, which fetched £9.6 million ($19.2 million) at Sotheby’s London in June 2007.
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A similar online-only auction held by Phillips last October brought in over £1 million with a 95 percent sell-through rate—further evidence of the artist’s strength in the print segment, which accounted for £2.4 million in sales in 2024. “With momentum continuing to build and his 60th birthday on June 7, this is a timely celebration of an artist whose impact on contemporary art remains profound,” Tooby-Desmond told Observer.
Set for June 5, the Hirst auction will launch Phillips’ Editions Week, which also includes prints and multiples by Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, Banksy, Andy Warhol and William Kentridge, alongside contemporary stars like Yoshitomo Nara, Grayson Perry and Harland Miller. Among the sale’s flashier entries: Banksy’s Flower Thrower Triptych (Grey) (2019), estimated at £100,000-150,000, and Kate Moss: Original Colourway (2005), with an estimate of £70,000-90,000. Picasso appears with Minotaure aveugle guidé par Marie-Thérèse au pigeon dans une nuit étoilée (est. £60,000–80,000) and a ceramic Vase au décor pastel (est. £10,000-15,000). And of course, Warhol—the king of the print market—is represented with African Elephant from his Endangered Species series and a complete set of his lurid Skulls (1976), offered at £60,000-80,000.
Phillips’ Damien Hirst auction opens June 5, preceding the “Evening & Day Editions” sales on June 5 and 6, 2025.
