Damien Hirst Is Back in the Chat: Dead Animals, Diamond Skulls & Big Money Art Hype
28.01.2026 - 14:22:47
Everyone has an opinion on Damien Hirst. Genius? Scam? Marketing king? One thing’s certain: you can’t scroll past his art without feeling something.
From a dead shark floating in blue formaldehyde to a skull covered in diamonds, Hirst turned shock value into a global brand. And yes, collectors still throw Big Money at it.
If you care about viral culture, luxury flex, or just weird museum moments, Damien Hirst is a name you need to have on your radar right now.
The Internet is Obsessed: Damien Hirst on TikTok & Co.
Hirst makes the kind of art that your phone camera loves: ultra-glossy colors, creepy animals, massive installations that scream Must-See. It’s controversial, it’s dramatic, and it looks wild on video.
Think: endless grids of rainbow dots, medicine cabinets packed like a pharmacy fever dream, and animals suspended in crystal-clear tanks. It’s aesthetic, it’s disturbing, and it fits perfectly into the short-video drama cycle.
On social, the comments usually split into two camps: people calling it iconic and people yelling "my kid could do that". Which, of course, just pushes the hype harder.
Want to see the art in action? Check out the hype here:
Masterpieces & Scandals: What you need to know
If you only remember three Damien Hirst works, make it these – they built the legend and the backlash.
- "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" (the shark)
A real tiger shark, sliced and suspended in a clear tank of blue liquid. It turned a dead animal into one of the most famous images in contemporary art. For some, it is a brutal meditation on death; for others, it is just expensive shock TV in museum form. - "For the Love of God" (the diamond skull)
A human skull cast in platinum and covered in thousands of diamonds, with real teeth. This piece made global headlines as a pure symbol of Big Money and luxury obsession. Fans see it as a dark joke about death and wealth; critics call it the ultimate flex for the art market. - Spots, pills & butterflies (the series work)
His spot paintings – endless grids of colored dots – are now a global meme for "simple but expensive" art. The pharmacy and pill cabinet works look like perfect Instagram backdrops, but they are also about addiction, control, and modern medicine. And then there are the butterfly works, made with real butterfly wings, which fuel constant debates about ethics, beauty, and cruelty.
On top of that, Hirst has been in the NFT space, large-scale painting projects, and huge themed exhibitions that push his own mythology even further.
The Price Tag: What is the art worth?
When it comes to the market, Damien Hirst is pure Blue Chip territory. Auction houses still treat him as one of the key names of his generation, and his best-known pieces reach serious Top Dollar.
His all-time biggest flex was a full-blown solo sale with a major auction house where he skipped the usual gallery route and sold an entire body of work directly at auction. The result: a record-breaking total that locked in his status as a global art-market power player.
Some of his large formaldehyde pieces, major spot paintings, and iconic works from the 1990s have reached the kind of numbers that most artists only dream of. Even when the market mood shifts and prices move up or down, Hirst’s name still signals High Value and long-term recognition.
If you are a young collector, you are probably not casually grabbing a museum-level shark or diamond skull. But there is a whole ecosystem of prints, editions, smaller works, and collaborations that bring his brand closer to entry level – and plenty of people treat those as both cultural flex and potential investment.
Behind the price tags stands a career built fast: he exploded out of the Young British Artists scene in London, turned controversy into publicity, and then into a global market machine. Love the system or hate it, he understood it early and played it hard.
See it Live: Exhibitions & Dates
Hirst is constantly popping up in galleries, private museums, and large-scale shows. Think rooms full of spot paintings, entire halls for animal tanks, and immersive spaces that feel half laboratory, half luxury boutique.
Right now, there are changing displays and projects happening through galleries like White Cube and other major players, plus works sitting in major museum collections worldwide. Some exhibitions focus on the early, more raw pieces; others go full spectacle with large installations and glossy new work.
No current dates available that can be confirmed in detail here, but if you are planning a trip or want to catch a show, you should always check direct sources for the latest info and bookings.
- Current and upcoming Damien Hirst shows at White Cube
- Get info directly from Damien Hirst's official channels
Tip: Museums and galleries love building social buzz around his installations. Many actively encourage photography (within rules), so if you go, charge your phone – these spaces are built to end up on your feed.
The Verdict: Hype or Legit?
Damien Hirst is not neutral background art. He is designed to provoke: death, money, medicine, faith, luxury – all wrapped in shiny, hyper-produced objects that you can instantly recognize.
Is it hyped? Absolutely. The scandals, the animal works, the diamond skulls, the NFT experiments – it is all built to live in the spotlight. But that is exactly why he matters in today’s culture: he turned the art world into a stage and the market into part of the artwork.
If you are into quiet minimalism and subtle gestures, Hirst will probably annoy you. If you are into loud statements, visual drama, and the intersection of Art Hype, celebrity culture, and Big Money, you cannot ignore him.
So here is the move: watch the TikToks, hit the documentaries, and, if you can, see at least one major Hirst piece in real life. Decide for yourself if it is profound, trash, or both at the same time – that tension is exactly where his power sits.
Either way, one thing is clear: in the fight for your attention, Damien Hirst is still very much winning.
