On the Cover: July/August 2026
Image: Courtesy of Phillips
Hidden Gardens – HG287 – Irresistible Hidden Garden by Damien Hirst sold for £23,220 at Phillips Modern & Contemporary Art auction on April 16, 2026, in London. Hirst is one of the most provocative and commercially successful contemporary artists, known for challenging perceptions of art, death and value. With an estimated net worth exceeding $300 million, Hirst is reportedly also one of the richest living artists in the world.
Known for his unconventional and head-turning pieces, which have included studded human skulls in diamonds and submerged sharks, sheep and other dead animals in custom vitrines of formaldehyde, Hirst doesn’t shy away from shock value. More recently, he burned thousands of his paintings as part of an NFT project called “The Currency,” forcing collectors to choose between physical and digital art.
In true Hirst fashion, the artist continues to push the envelope, revealing in a May 2025 interview with the London Times his plans for posthumous paintings that will allow collectors to buy the rights to produce artworks that he’ll leave sketched in notebooks that will be signed by his descendants.
Some of our other favorites, from Phillips Modern & Contemporary Art auction on April 16, 2026 in London, appear throughout this issue.
