Name: For The Love Of God, Believe
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (234 reviews)

Meaning & Analysis

For The Love Of God, Believe, is a screen print from 2007, forming part of Damien Hirst’s For The Love Of God series. The print shows a photographic portrait of a human skull in the centre of the composition, the skull entirely covered with diamonds and set with a large stone in the centre of the forehead.

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The skull has become one of Hirst’s most celebrated motifs. The sculpture, For The Love Of God (2007), on which this print series is based, has become iconic to Hirst’s name. Fascinated by death as a subject for artistic investigation, Hirst does not represent decay or fear of death with his diamond encrusted piece, but instead transforms this image of mortality into an aestheticised symbol. Hirst’s For The Love Of God series shows up the duality that structures the core of human experience, depicting an object that represents the constant psychic tussle between life and death, beauty and decay, desire and fear, love and loss.

This print was produced in the same year as Hirst’s iconic diamond-studded skull sculpture. Much of Hirst’s printed editions are reminiscent of his most famous sculptural and installation works, making clear his obsession with certain motifs and themes surrounding life and death.