- You can frigthten people with death or an idea about their own mortality, or it can actually give them vigour.

Anatomy of an Angel is a contribution to the collection by British artist Damien Hirst (born 1965).

His use of painting, drawing and various installations explore the relationship between art, beauty, religion, science, life and death.

Anatomy of an Angel is hewn in Carrara marble and the artist's first sculpture in this material. Hirst has looked to Alfred Boucher's 1920 bronze sculpture L’Hirondelle for inpiration. Nevertheless, the differences are vital. Boucher's figure is a beautiful, pure angel, and Hirst questions its anatomy or humanity. He has chosen to give the angel the anatomy of a normal, mortal woman. The structures beneath the skin are laid bare, as if by scientific examination. The work reflects Hirst's fascination with human anatomy and modern science.

In Anatomy of an Angel Hirst fuses his interest in religious iconography with the notion that science itself is somehow sacred.

Anatomy of an Angel, 2008

© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS / BONO 2017