Damien Hirst Sculptures at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

About

image: Paolina Hurry

Visitors to Yorkshire Sculpture Park can discover three major outdoor works by British artist Damien Hirst. Located within the Country Park, the sculptures explore themes including the human body, disability, charity, identity and the use of materials in contemporary sculpture.

Damien Hirst at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The outdoor display features three works by Damien Hirst that originally arrived at Yorkshire Sculpture Park as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International in 2019. The festival brought together Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Hepworth Wakefield, Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery.

The three Damien Hirst sculptures on display are:

• Charity (2002–2003)
• The Hat Makes the Man (2004–2007)
• The Virgin Mother (2005–2006)

The Virgin Mother

Standing 10 metres tall, The Virgin Mother creates a substantial presence within the Yorkshire landscape. The work is partly influenced by Edgar Degas’ historic sculpture Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, dating from around 1881.

Hirst’s sculpture examines the human body by revealing the internal anatomy of a pregnant woman and her unborn child. Although its surface resembles plastic, the work is made from painted bronze, reflecting the artist’s interest in altering perceptions of traditional sculptural materials.

Charity

Charity takes inspiration from the Scope charity collection boxes once commonly seen on British streets. The sculpture depicts a young girl wearing a calliper, holding a teddy bear and standing beside a collection box.

Through the work, Hirst considers historical representations of disability and the ways charitable fundraising has depicted disabled people. Visitors can encounter the sculpture while following the walking route towards The Weston.

The Hat Makes the Man

The Hat Makes the Man draws on the 1920 collage of the same name by Surrealist artist Max Ernst. Hirst translates elements of the original two-dimensional composition into a large-scale sculptural form.

The work incorporates bronze casts of wooden pallets alongside different styles of hats. As with The Virgin Mother, the materials are deliberately finished to resemble something other than bronze, encouraging visitors to consider the relationship between appearance, material and value in sculpture.

Visiting the Damien Hirst Sculptures

The Damien Hirst exhibition is situated outdoors in the Country Park at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Visitors should allow approximately 15 minutes to walk to the exhibition from YSP Centre or around five minutes from The Weston.

• The route includes grass and gravel pathways.
• All three works are displayed on grass.
• Ground conditions may become muddy during wet weather.
• Off-road mobility scooters can be hired free of charge from YSP Centre.
• Opening times vary, so visitors are advised to check current information before travelling.

About the Outdoor Exhibition

The ongoing Damien Hirst exhibition provides an opportunity to experience large-scale contemporary sculpture within the parkland setting of Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Each work combines recognisable imagery with Hirst’s approach to scale, materials and cultural references, creating connections between contemporary art and the surrounding landscape.