Observation – The Crown of Justice, 2006
Butterflies and household gloss on canvas. 280.3 × 183 cm (110 1/3 × 72 1/8 in) arch. Signed, titled and dated 'Damien Hirst "Crown of Justice" 2006' on the reverse.
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PROVENANCE Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills
EXHIBITED Beverly Hills, Gagosian Gallery, Damien Hirst – Superstition, 22 February – 5 April, 2007
LITERATURE Damien Hirst: Superstition, exh. cat., Los Angeles, Gagosian Gallery, 2007, pp. 40–41 (illustrated), p. 158 (illustrated)

The work of Damien Hirst is known for its exploration of the territories of religion, science and death, and nowhere are these themes more clearly expressed than in the artist's butterfly paintings, of which Observation – The Crown of Justice from 2006, is a superb example. The work featured in the critically acclaimed 'Superstition' exhibition at Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills in 2007. The exhibition was a spectacular display of Hirst's butterfly paintings, and marked an extension of the artist's so-called Kaleidoscope series begun in 2003. Drawing upon the shape, colour and design of stained glass windows of the great medieval cathedrals, these works exhibit a meticulously imposed patterning and symmetry that suggest the properties of fractal geometry. In doing so, Hirst confidently invites comparison between his work and the painstaking craftsmanship used to create stained glass windows. The contrast made between the physical nature of the work, in the sheer quantity of species of butterflies used and the geometrical patterning, and the religious connotations, is echoed in the two-part title of Observation – The Crown of Justice. As with all works in 'Superstition', the first part is taken from the title of a poem by Philip Larkin (mostly from his 1974 collection High Windows), a poet known for his at times bleak outlook on the human condition but also a quasi-religious transcendence, and the second drawing upon biblical and Christian evangelical phrases. The butterfly has become a central motif of Hirst's paintings on canvas from the start of his career in the early 1990s to the present day. During the early centuries of the Christian church, the butterfly symbolised the resurrection and life after death. Artistic depictions of butterflies have been used in cultures across the globe; in some, butterflies symbolise rebirth, and others see the butterfly as a sign of good luck or even love. Observation – The Crown of Justice strikes the viewer with a glorious burst and variety of colours, ranging from marine blues to pale yellows to reds and browns. The multifaceted composition is meticulously created solely out of butterfly wings. The rich variety of colours, shapes and sizes can be ascribed to the vast range of butterfly species used by Hirst's studio to produce this astonishing work. Hirst's first butterfly painting was exhibited at the Woodstock Street Gallery in London in 1991. The exhibition, 'In & Out of Love', was on two levels: "In one, at street level, live butterflies work their way out of pupae hanging from monochrome white canvases; they feed on flowers in the vases below and from bowls of sugar-water placed on a table in the middle of the room. They mate, lay their eggs, and then die. On the floor below, as if in a subsequent temporal passage, some dead butterflies are stuck and amalgamated with the shiny varnish of large monochrome canvases. Instead of dishes holding nutrients, the table holds ashtrays filled with cigarette butts" (Damien Hirst, The Agony and the Ecstasy: Selected Works from 1989–2004, exh. cat., Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, 2004).