For the Love of God

Link to image ( Please note copyrights )

For the Love of God ( For heaven's sake ) is a sculpture by artist Damien Hirst from the year 2007. Consists of the platinum cast of a human skull, which is with 8,601 flawless diamonds, including a pear-shaped pink diamond on the forehead, occupied. With production costs of £ 14 million work in London's White Cube gallery in the exhibition Beyond was totaled at the original price of £ 50 million shown. That would be the highest price ever paid for a single work of a living artist.

Formation

The human skull on which to base this work, bought in a shop in Islington, probably belonged to a European who lived 1720-1810. The title of the artwork was allegedly inspired by Hirst's mother, who is said to have asked him: " For heaven's sake, what will you do next? "

Hirst stated that the idea for this work came from a Aztec Skull of turquoise in the British Museum.

The artist John Lekay who scored in the early 1990s to Hirst's friends had, in 1993 occupied a skull with crystals. Lekay said: "When I heard that he did it, it felt like a punch in the stomach. When I saw this image online, I felt a piece of me in the work. I was a bit shocked. "

Artistic reactions

In December 2008, Hirst threatened to sue the artist Cartrain for copyright infringement. Cartrain had photos of For the Love of God used in collages and sold them online.

The Polish artist Peter Fuss created in 2007 For the Laugh of God, a similar work of glass and plastic, including 9,870 diamond imitations.