Damien Hirst Auction Prices and Value Guide
Damien Hirst auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 11,238 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.
Damien Hirst auction prices: quick answer
Damien Hirst auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.
- Artist
- Damien Hirst
- Source records
- 11,238
- Market update
- 2026-02-06
Artist context
About Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst (born 7 June 1965, Bristol, England) is a British artist best known as a leading figure of the Young British Artists (YBAs), the generation that reshaped the UK contemporary art scene in the 1990s. Working across sculpture, installation, painting, and printmaking, Hirst became internationally recognized for works that confront themes of mortality, medicine, and the fragility of life. His career was propelled through close association with collector Charles Saatchi during the 1990s, and he has since become one of the most commercially prominent living artists. Major institutions including Tate, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and the Centre Pompidou hold his work in their collections. Hirst's practice spans formaldehyde-preserved animal sculptures, pharmaceutical-themed spot and pill paintings, spin paintings, butterfly compositions, and large-scale installations.
Young British Artists (YBAs)Conceptual artSculptureInstallation artPaintingPrintmakingDeath and mortalityPharmaceuticals and medicineNatural history (animals, specimens)Butterflies
Common works and media
Hirst's auction-encountered works span several major series. The Natural History works feature animals preserved in formaldehyde, including his iconic shark sculpture. Spot paintings (the Pharmaceutical series) are grid-based canvases of uniformly colored circles, produced in many sizes and editions. Spin paintings are created on a rotating surface, producing radial color patterns. Butterfly works range from real butterfly wing compositions to kaleidoscope-style paintings. Medicine cabinets present arranged pharmaceutical packaging as sculptural objects. Prints and multiples form a substantial portion of his auction presence, including screen prints, woodcuts, and etchings derived from his major series. Collectors may also encounter diamond-dusted works, skull-themed pieces, and stained-glass window constructions.
Market and appraisal context
Damien Hirst maintains one of the deepest auction footprints of any living contemporary artist, with 3,718 lots catalogued in the Appraisily auction record index since May 2004 and 1,974 of those carrying a realized price. His auction presence spans major international houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams) alongside a wide network of regional and specialist firms including Forum Auctions, Tate Ward Auctions, Roseberys, Rago Arts and Auction Center, Freeman's, Wright, and Louiza Auktion & Associés. Price dispersion is extreme: the recorded range runs from a floor of roughly $10 for small prints to $5,670,000 for top-tier unique works, with a median of $3,500 and a 75th percentile at $9,500. This spread reflects the fundamentally bifurcated nature of Hirst's market—high-volume editioned prints and multiples dominate the lower and middle tiers, while unique sculptures, large-scale paintings, and iconic series works command premium prices at the major houses. Liquidity remains strong but is declining: 665 priced lots appeared in the trailing twelve months compared with 1,033 in the prior twelve-month period, a roughly 36% drop in volume that may reflect market saturation of recent editions (notably The Currency and Empresses series) as well as broader contemporary-art softening. Recent comparable lots show The Currency prints (2016/2022) trading between £1,200 and £10,000 depending on the house and specific work, a Cathedral-series print (Palais des Papes, 2007) achieving $20,000 at Freeman's, and spin paintings, butterfly works, and skull-themed pieces selling in the €550–€1,100 band at continental houses. The Empresses laminated giclée series (H10-1 through H10-5, 2022) appears frequently but with mixed results—some lots realizing prices around £1,200–£1,300 and others going unsold.
Auction categories and appraisal factors
Common auction categories
- Post-War and Contemporary Art
- Prints and Multiples
- Contemporary Art
- Sculpture
- Installation art
Value drivers
- Provenance: documented history of ownership, gallery representation, and exhibition records significantly affect value
- Series and edition: spot paintings, spin paintings, butterfly works, and prints are produced in editions; edition size and number affect appraisal
- Medium and scale: unique sculptures and large-scale installations command different values than editioned prints or small works on paper
- Condition: preservation of formaldehyde specimens, integrity of painted surfaces, and condition of prints are material factors
- Date of execution: early works from the 1990s YBA period carry particular significance in the market
- Authenticity and catalogue raisonné inclusion: the forthcoming HENI catalogue raisonné may become a key reference for authentication
Appraisal caveats
- Hirst's market has experienced significant fluctuation; auction results should be assessed over multiple years rather than single sales.
- A very large volume of editioned prints and multiples exists (over 11,000 auction records in the Invaluable database), which means scarcity varies dramatically across work types.
- Studio assistants execute many Hirst works by design; this is part of the conceptual framework and not an authenticity concern.
- Market context here is drawn from general art-market knowledge and the volume of Invaluable records; specific price trends require up-to-date comparable-sale analysis.
Evidence
Sources for artist context
This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.
- Wikidata library authority
- Wikipedia wikipedia
- Library of Congress library authority
- VIAF library authority
- The Museum of Modern Art museum or university
- Tate museum or university
Data basis
This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.
Artist value FAQ
How much is Damien Hirst worth?
Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.
Can Appraisily value my Damien Hirst artwork?
Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.