Diamond skull

“For the love of the Lord” ( Eng. For the Love of God ) or “Diamond skull of Damien Hirst” - a human skull made of platinum and inlaid with diamonds . The author is a famous British artist Damien Hirst . The diamond skull is the most expensive work of art by living artists.

Damien Hirst

For the love of the Lord . 2007

For the love of god

Platinum , diamonds . Height 20 cm

White Cube, London

According to Hurst, the name was inspired by his mother’s words when she addressed him with the words: “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?” (“Tell me, what will you do next?”, For the love of God - quote from John 's First Epistle : “For this is love of God” (1 John 5: 3)).

The skull is made of platinum as a copy of the skull of a 35-year-old European, who lived between 1720 and 1810. The entire area of ​​the skull, with the exception of the original teeth, is dotted with 8 601 diamonds with a total weight of 1106.18 carats . In the center of the forehead is the main element of the composition - pink pear-shaped diamond . The work cost Hurst £ 14 million.

The work was first presented to the public in June 2007 at the London White Cube Gallery, a year later the skull was exhibited at the Amsterdam State Museum . In 2007, for investment purposes, a consortium of Hurst himself, his manager Frank Dunphy, head of the White Cube gallery and famous Ukrainian philanthropist Victor Pinchuk , bought a skull for 50 million pounds (100 million US dollars ).