The British painter Francis Bacon has remained a fundamental influence on Hirst’s work for the entirety of his career. Bacon’s technique of boxing in his figures within three-dimensional ‘spaceframes’ relates directly to Hirst’s practise of containing his sculptures within vitrines and tanks. 'The Pursuit of Oblivion'  is Hirst’s own imagining of Bacon’s 'Painting' 1946. Hirst explains of his interpretation of the artist’s work that, ‘when [a work] becomes three-dimensional it turns into something else. And [Bacon’s paintings] work incredibly well, three-dimensionally.’