It’s a Beautiful Day 2
It’s a Beautiful Day 2
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
£5,500-£8,500
$11,000-$17,000 Value Indicator
$10,000-$15,000 Value Indicator
¥50,000-¥80,000 Value Indicator
€6,500-€10,000 Value Indicator
$50,000-$80,000 Value Indicator
¥1,060,000-¥1,640,000 Value Indicator
$7,000-$10,500 Value Indicator
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Medium: Block print
Edition size: 55
Year: 2013
Size: H 66cm x W 49cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Meaning & Analysis
This striking block print is from Damien Hirst’s It’s A Beautiful Day series from 2013 called It’s A Beautiful Day 2. Depicted in contrasting colours, the print shows a red butterfly in the centre of the composition against a bright green backdrop. The butterfly is shown with its wings outspread, as though on display in a natural history insect cabinet.
Hirst’s It’s A Beautiful Day series is reminiscent of his 1991 In And Out Of Love (Butterfly Paintings And Ashtrays) installation that fixed the bodies of dead butterflies into monochrome gloss paint, surrounded by overflowing ashtrays. The choice of household gloss was intended to ‘look like an accident of paint with butterflies stuck on it,’ according to the artist. This effect is reflected in It’s a Beautiful Day 2 that contrasts the highly realistic image of the butterfly against the solid green backdrop.
Speaking to the artist’s preoccupation with the concept that art mirrors life, his use of the butterfly motif has remained prominent throughout his career. Not only is each butterfly born with a unique pattern that mimics the individuality that frames much of human life, but the butterfly for Hirst symbolises growth, change, life and death. The butterfly motif appears both in printed editions as well as in installations where visitors are situated in a room of live butterflies.
