The art world is known to be a lucrative business, with pieces often racking up millions of pounds to the right bidder.
But, with a reported net worth of more than £350million, the world’s richest artist Damien Hirst wasn’t always living the finer life.
Born in Bristol but growing up in Leeds, Hirst was raised by his mother, an Irish migrant who worked at the local Citizen Advice Bureau.
He never met his biological father with his mother and step-father also divorcing when he was just 12 years old.
His younger years were lived out very differently to the one the multi-millionaire artist does today. Although a young Hirst always had a passion for art, he didn’t always see eye to eye with the law – reportedly being caught on two occasions trying to steal art supplies from the school.
Recounting the event to the Maddox Gallery in London, Hirst said: “I went into the art lesson once at school, and the police were there doing fingerprints on the windows because I’d broken in the night before and nicked stuff – paper, pens, pencils, all that kind of stuff – and I remember thinking: ‘F**k, I didn’t wear gloves.'”
He would go on to study at Leeds Art College before moving to the big smoke to study fine art at Goldsmiths Univeristy, during which time he worked in a mortuary, but whose rebellious streak would continue into his art.
Hirst is known for causing an emotional – but not always pleasant – reaction to his work. He commonly focuses on the theme of death with one of his most notable works a collection of dead animals, sometimes dissected, that have been preserved and displayed in a large glass box.
Leaping to fame in the ’90s as one of the YBA’s (Young British Artists), Hirst became a global star with his works going up and up in price. He got rich, his galleries got rich and his collectors got rich.
In 2008 he got another historic paycheck when he shook the art world and made the unprecedented move to auction off one of his upcoming shows ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’, bypassing his loyal galleries and dealers and taking the full profits for himself.
The show fetched an eye-watering £111 million, a record-breaking sum, but angered many of his fans, ultimately leading to a drop in the value of much of his work.
Hirst is not without his critics, with former Evening Standard critic Brian Sewell once remarking: “I don’t think of it as art… It is no more interesting than a stuffed pike over a pub door. Indeed there may well be more art in a stuffed pike than a dead sheep.”
In more recent years his famous spot paintings have been one of his most lucrative sources of income, producing thousands with the help of his assistants.
In just eight years he produced 14 print “drops”, two paper releases, and three NFT releases with new collaborators and art management company HENI. The editions are reported to have turned over an astronomical $206,445,375 further cementing Hirst as the world’s richest artist.
