‘Hymn’ is a 20 foot painted bronze sculpture, that weighs over six tons. The work was originally inspired by an anatomical model belonging to Hirst’s son, Connor, which the artist describes as: “just so accurate, it was like a chemistry set, and I loved it that it was a toy [...] similar to a medical thing, but much happier, friendlier, more colourful and bright.”[1]
Editions of the work have been included in two major surveys of Hirst’s career: his first retrospective, ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’, at the Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, 2004; and ‘Cornucopia’ hosted by the Musée Océanographique, Monaco, 2010.