Damien Steven Hirst (1965) is an English artist and the most prominent member of the group known as "Young British Artists" (or YBAs), who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and has been claimed to be the richest living artist to date. During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles Saatchi. Death is a central theme in Hirst's works. He became famous for a series of artworks in which dead animals (including a shark, a sheep and a cow) are preservedsometimes having been dissectedin formaldehyde.

Damien Hirst's works had been sold at high prices, some of which includes Lullaby Spring (2002) sold at Sotheby's London for EUR 12,752,080 in 2007, The Golden Calf (2008) at Sotheby's London for EUR 11,606,720 in 2008, The Kingdom (2008) at Sotheby's London for EUR 10,723,600 in 2008, Eternity (2002-2004) at Phillips de Pury & Company, London for EUR 6,015,660 in 2007, Fragments of Paradise (2008) at Sotheby's London for EUR 5,803,360 in 2008.