Name: Beneficence
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (231 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Damien Hirst’s Beneficence, a signed screenprint from 2015, is estimated to be worth between £3,600 and £5,500. This artwork has been sold four times at auction since its initial sale on 16th September 2020. In the last 12 months, the average selling price was £3,269, with a total sales volume of 1. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £3,269 in August 2024 to £4,961 in June 2022. The average annual growth rate of this work is -4%. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 50.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

August 2024

Bonhams New York

United States

June 2022

Phillips London

United Kingdom

April 2022

Ross's Fine Art Auctioneers

United Kingdom

September 2020

Sotheby's Online

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

Beneficence is a signed silkscreen print with glaze produced by the contemporary British artist, Damien Hirst. The print, made in 2015, shows a meticulous arrangement of butterflies. Set against a bright pink backdrop, Hirst arranges a variety of butterflies in concentric circles. The print is full of colour, with yellow, blue, green and white dominating the composition and contrasting with the pink background.

The butterfly has become a staple part of Hirst’s visual language and iconography. Along with skulls and diamonds, the beautiful insect has become closely associated with the artist’s name and oeuvre. Hirst began using butterflies in his work as early as 1989, while he was studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths College. Hirst’s most iconic use of butterflies was arguably in 1991, when the artist produced a live installation of butterflies which emerged from pupae attached to white painted canvases kept in a humid exhibition room.

Beneficence is part of the Kaleidoscope series, an ambitious project started by Hirst in 2001, which was inspired by the intricate pattern of butterfly wings he saw on an old Victorian tea tray. The prints in the Kaleidoscope series all depict mesmerising patterns of concentric circles composed of colourful butterfly wings.