Damien Hirst (b. 1965)

The Hope is a painting by Damien Hirst from his ongoing series World Famous Diamonds. Hirst has been painting images taken from photographs for over 10 years, this group of paintings painted in a photo realist style, are called The Fact Paintings. This work commemorates one of his most iconic themes, Immortality. Created in 2006, the work immediately precedes the artist's work, For the Love of God. A real human skull cast in platinum and encrusted with over 8000 flawless diamonds. As the artist explained this amazing sculpture, an object normally fabricated for emperors and kings and queens, 'I just want to celebrate life by saying to hell with death... what better way of saying that than by using the skull, the ultimate symbol of death and covering it in diamonds, the ultimate symbol of luxury, desire, hope, immortality and love.'