This vitrine consists of a double stainless steel and glass box: the inner compartment contains a full sized mirror on which ‘I love you’ is written in lipstick, an easel and the beginnings of an oil on canvas painting, on which hangs a lab coat; the outer chamber is littered with materials commonly found in a painter’s studio.

Having recently stated: “Everything I’ve ever done has been about painting, I think. About the road to painting in some way,” the vitrine is testament to the medium’s importance to Hirst throughout the entirety of his career.[1] In order to make the piece, Hirst physically entered the vitrine to work on the canvas, putting on the lab coat before looking in the mirror.