Skull Spin Painting

A retrospective in Kyiv

In April 2009 the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv opened Requiem, a retrospective of more than 100 works by Damien Hirst dating from 1990 to 2008. It ran from April 25 to September 20, 2009, with free admission. It was curated by Eckhard Schneider and developed in close cooperation with Hirst and Victor Pinchuk.

The show ranged from early sculptures such as A Thousand Years (1990) and Away from the Flock (1994) to Death Explained (2007), a shark cut in half in formaldehyde. It also showed for the first time a series of skull paintings Hirst made between 2006 and 2008, including Floating Skull and The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth. Pinchuk said that what mattered most to him was that the new work was seen first in Kyiv.

To mark the opening, Hirst set up four spin painting machines in the art center. For the first two days of the exhibition, visitors were invited to make their own works on them, with Hirst and several studio assistants on hand to help. The skull-shaped sheets are one of the results.

Hirst and the spin machine

Damien Hirst was born on June 7, 1965, in Bristol, England, and grew up in Leeds. In 1988, while a student at Goldsmiths College, he organized the exhibition Freeze, and in 1995 he won the Turner Prize. Since the mid-1990s his spin paintings, made on a spinning machine, have become as iconic as his spot paintings.

'I really like making them,' Hirst has said of the spin paintings. 'And I really like the machine, and I really like the movement. The movement sort of implies life.'

The skull was central to Hirst's work in these years. In 2007 he made For the Love of God, a platinum cast of a human skull set with 8,601 diamonds, and the Kyiv show premiered his painted skulls. The skull-shaped spin sheets put that motif into the hands of the public.

2009

Requiem opened seven months after Hirst's September 2008 auction Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, which raised 111 million pounds, reported as $198 million.

Elsewhere, Iceland's government and banking system had collapsed in January, and in June the World Health Organization declared the H1N1 swine flu a pandemic.

From the workshop to the saleroom

Each finished painting was stamped on the back with the event details and a place for the visitor to sign their own name. Many have since come to market.

Results have been consistent with estimates of $2,000 to $3,000. One sheet sold for $3,250 in April 2019, catalogued as 'After Damien Hirst.' Others sold for $3,780 in April 2023, $2,394 in March 2024, $5,292 in September 2024, $3,276 in December 2024, $4,445 in March 2025 and $1,905 in September 2025.

How to identify one

The paintings are acrylic on paper, spun in the form of a skull. Most measure about 71 x 51 cm; at least one is catalogued at about 53 x 68 cm. The back carries a stamped Hirst signature and a printed inscription: 'This painting was made by [blank] to celebrate the opening of Damien Hirst, Requiem, at the PinchukArtCentre on [blank],' with '© Damien Hirst' and a 'Hirst' blindstamp.

The signature is a stamp, not a hand signature, and the blank is for the visitor who made the painting. Catalogs vary on attribution: most list the works under Hirst's name with a note that they were made with public collaboration at the Damien Hirst Spin Workshop, while one catalogued an example as 'After Damien Hirst.'

They are not prints or multiples. The same workshop produced butterfly, shark, circle, heart, star, rocket and other shapes, and one private collection says it has identified 12 different shapes.

The numbers

Medium

Acrylic on paper

Dimensions

Typically 71 x 51 cm (27 7/8 x 20 1/8 in); also 53 x 68 cm

Edition size

None; each is unique

Signature

Stamped Hirst signature and inscription on verso, 'Hirst' blindstamp

Made at

Damien Hirst Spin Workshop, Requiem opening, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, April 2009

Exhibition

Requiem, April 25 to September 20, 2009, more than 100 works from 1990 to 2008

Timeline

1. Jun 7, 1965

   Damien Hirst is born in Bristol, England.

2. 1988

   Hirst organizes the exhibition Freeze as a Goldsmiths student.

3. 1995

   Hirst wins the Turner Prize.

4. 2007

   Hirst makes For the Love of God, a platinum skull set with 8,601 diamonds.

5. Sep 2008

   Hirst's auction Beautiful Inside My Head Forever raises 111 million pounds.

6. Apr 13, 2009

   The PinchukArtCentre announces Requiem, a retrospective of more than 100 works.

7. Apr 24, 2009

   Vernissage of Requiem in Kyiv.

8. Apr 25, 2009

   Requiem opens to the public; visitors make spin paintings on four machines in the first two days.

9. Sep 20, 2009

   Requiem closes.

10. Apr 11, 2019

    A Skull Spin Painting sells at auction for $3,250, catalogued as 'After Damien Hirst.'

11. Apr 20, 2023

    Another sells for $3,780.

12. Sep 27, 2024

    One brings $5,292, the highest result found.

13. Dec 11, 2024

    One sells for $3,276.

14. Sep 30, 2025

    One sells for $1,905, the lowest result found.

The world in 2009

• Jan 15, 2009

  US Airways Flight 1549 ditches in the Hudson River; all 155 aboard survive.

• Jan 20, 2009

  Barack Obama is inaugurated as U.S. president.

• Jan 26, 2009

  Iceland's government and banking system collapse.

• Feb 7, 2009

  Black Saturday bushfires kill 173 people in Victoria, Australia.

• Apr 6, 2009

  An earthquake strikes L'Aquila, Italy, killing 308.

• Jun 11, 2009

  The World Health Organization declares H1N1 swine flu a pandemic.

• Jun 25, 2009

  Michael Jackson dies at 50.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Skull Spin Painting is number 87 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (86 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The person who actually painted each sheet was a visitor to the show; the back has a blank for their name.
• Hirst set up four spin machines and helped visitors himself during the first two days.
• Admission to Requiem was free.
• Requiem was the first showing of the skull paintings Hirst made between 2006 and 2008.
• One auction catalogued an example as 'After Damien Hirst' rather than as Hirst's own work.
• Hirst says the movement of the spin machine 'sort of implies life.'