Damien Hirst is an British artist and the most famous member of a group known as Young British Artists. His work sells for astonishingly high prices which is why he is probably Britain's wealthiest living artist. Hirst's work has a central theme of death and one of my personal favorite pieces of his is titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. It was created in 1992 and is basically a tiger shark that has been preserved in formaldehyde inside of a vitrine. It was sold for reportedly at least 8 million dollars and is considered the iconic piece of 1990s British Art. Currently it is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 2006 due to decay the original shark had to be replaced.
Another famous work of his is titled For the Love of God which is a human skull made out of platinum and covered in 8,601 diamonds weighing 1,106.18 carats. It is modeled on an 18th century skull but the only surviving part of the skull are the teeth. It was sold in 2008 for 100 million dollars but it did take some time to sell.
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