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Work on Beautiful Inside My Head Forever – a major auction of new works by Damien Hirst - has progressed and the full scope of this ground-breaking auction can now be revealed.

Including a whole new body of work that covers the complete range of Hirst's output and more, the auction will run over two days, commencing with an Evening Sale on Monday Monday, 15 September 5 September, and continuing throughout the following day (Tuesday, 16 September September) with a morning and afternoon session. The two day sale, which will include 223 lots, is expected to realise a sum in excess of £65 million. Estimates will range from around £15,000-20,000 (for a range of new drawings) up to the £8,000,000-12,000,000 estimate attached to The Golden Calf – the monumental and arresting centre-piece of the sale. Among the works to be offered will be new and exciting variations on many of the key themes that have defined Hirst's work to date.

The Golden Calf (lot 13)

calf, 18 carat gold, glass, gold plated steel, silicone and formaldehyde solution with Carrara marble plinth (398.9 by 350.5 by 167.6cm) executed in 2008 will carry an estimate of  £ 8,000,000-12,000,000 € 10,120,000-15,180,000 US$ 15,800,000-23,690,000

The Kingdom (lot 5) vening tiger shark, glass, steel, silicone and formaldehyde solution with steel plinth (214 by 383.6 by 141.8cm.) executed in 2008 has been estimated between £ 4,000,000 and 6,000,000 (€ 5,060,000-7,590,000, US$ 7,900,000-11,850,000)

The Dream (lot 110) foal, glass, steel, resin, silicone and formaldehyde solution (231 by 332.6 by 138.1cm)executed in 2008 and The Incredible Journey (lot 211) zebra, glass, steel, silicone, and formaldehyde solution (208.6 by 322.5 by 108.8cm) executed in 2008 are expected to sell at £ 3,000,000 (€ 3,800,000 US$ 5,930,000)

With some 160 or so works to be offered in the course of the morning and afternoon sessions, the Day Sale will bring to the market a wealth of new works – across a wide range of estimates – embracing everything from spot paintings and drawings to butterfly glosses and grids, and more.

The Charity Element

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the celebrated Freeze exhibition curated by Hirst in London, which launched the careers of Hirst and his contemporaries, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever affirms Hirst's position as a boundary breaker and as an artist who has never worked in the traditional vein. At the same time, the sale re-affirms Hirst's continued commitment to the support of charitable causes.

In February this year, Hirst joined forces with singer Bono to spearhead the (RED) auction - a record breaking sale held at Sotheby's in New York, whose purpose was to raise money for the United Nations Foundation to support HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa, conducted by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The sale, which included works donated by artists such as Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn, Marc Newson, Keith Tyson, Takashi Murakami and Banksy, realised $42.58 million – making it the most successful charity auction of contemporary art ever staged.

Continuing that tradition, the September sale will include four works to be sold to benefit charities especially designated by Hirst. They are:

Beautiful Love Demelza Painting with Beautiful Butterflies (lot 30, est: £400,000-600,000) to be sold to benefit Demelza, Hospice Care for Children.

Beautiful Love Survival Painting with Beautiful Butterflies (lot 8, est: £400,000-600,000) to be sold to benefit Survival International.

Beautiful Love Strummerville Painting with Beautiful Butterflies (lot 109, est: £400,000-600,000) to be sold to benefit Strummerville – the Joe Strummer foundation for new music – aiming to create new opportunities for aspiring musicians.

Beautiful Love Kids Co Twenty-Five to Ten Painting with Beautiful Butterflies (lot 209, est: £400,000-600,000) to be sold to benefit Kids Company - a charity founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996 in order to provide practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people.

Alongside these will be: Bill with Shark (lot 203, est: £200,000- 300,000) – an oil painting, to be sold on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, based on a

photograph by Jean Pigozzi, showing Bill Gates looking at shark-in-formaldehyde sculpture by Hirst. Proceeds from the sale of the work will benefit the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to help reduce inequities in the United States and around the world.

Damien Hirst said: “After the success of the Pharmacy auction, I always felt I would like to do another auction. It's a very democratic way to sell art and it feels like a natural evolution for contemporary art. Although there is risk involved, I embrace the challenge of selling my work in this way. I never want to stop working with my galleries. This is different. The world's changing, ultimately I need to see where this road leads.”

Cheyenne Westphal, Chairman Contemporary Art Sotheby's Europe and Oliver Barker, Sotheby's Senior International Specialist, said: “Damien Hirst is the leading artist of his generation. The extraordinary body of new work to be showcased at Sotheby's is among his best yet: ambitious, exquisite and incredibly powerful.”

Jay Jopling said: “Damien has always been a mould breaker and I've stood alongside him in all his ventures including his strategic forays into the auction world, which have certainly helped to broaden his market. 8,601 flawless diamonds notwithstanding, ours has never been a traditional marriage and I look forward to many more adventures to come.”

Gagosian Gallery said: “As Damien's long-term gallery, we've come to expect the unexpected. He can certainly count on us to be in the room with paddle in hand.”

Preview Dates Dates: Auction 5 – 15 September 20 2008 08 Monday, 15 September 2008: 7 pm pm, Evening Sale Tuesday, 16 September 2008 2008: 11am , Morning session 2.30pm, Afternoon session

Auction Record Record:

Damien Hirst's medicine cabinet, Lullaby Spring (2002) sold at Sotheby's in London for £9.65 million in June 2007, at the time, a record for any work by a living artist.

Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol, UK. He grew up in Leeds before graduating with a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, London where he was the dominant figure of a generation of British artists. In 1988, he curated the Goldsmiths exhibition, Freeze, in a warehouse in Surrey Docks, East London. He lives and works in London, Devon and Mexico. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Into Me/Out of Me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2006), In- A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Tate Britain, the 50th Venice Biennale (2003) and Century City, Tate Modern (2001). Solo exhibitions

include Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo (2005), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2005), Archaeological Museum, Naples (2004) and In the darkest hour there may be light (2006) works from Damien Hirst's Murderme collection, curated by the artist, Serpentine Gallery, London. He received the DAAD fellowship in Berlin in 1994 and the Turner Prize in 1995. In August 2007, his diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God, sold for £50 million.
 

The Pharmacy Sale: