Name: The Dead (Imperial purple, silver gloss)
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (231 reviews)

Meaning & Analysis

The Dead (imperial purple, silver gloss) is a signed foil block print in colours on Arches paper produced by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst. In this print, Hirst renders a skull in an intense imperial purple with silver gloss shading. The skull stares out the print at the viewer, contrasting with the plain white background of the composition.

The print, made in 2009, is part of the artist’s The Dead series. In this series, Hirst produced thirty-one prints, all of which depict a skull. Variety in the series comes from the artist’s creative use of colour, with no two prints using the same colour scheme. The skull is a universally recognised symbol used to represent death. Death is a central theme of Hirst’s artworks, as exemplified in this series. Speaking on the prevalence of death in his art, Hirst explained “you can frighten people with death or an idea of their own mortality, or it can actually give them vigour.” The use of bold colours in these prints is an attempt to enliven the viewer and prevent them from viewing death in such a negative way.

The Dead (imperial purple, silver gloss) along with the other prints in The Dead series are similar to those in I Once Was What You Are, You Will Be What I Am (2007), Memento (2008) and For The Love of God (2007-2015). This series, however, is much more colourful than its counterparts.