Anatomy of an angel

Pedro Zunino

The Anatomy of an Angel (2008) is a striking marble sculpture created by Damien Hirst, one of the most popular contemporary artists worldwide. It is a large-scale sculpture made of Carrara marble. It depicts an angel, creating in this way an obvious reference to the classical statues of the past. However, parts of this angel’s body and face are missing, exposing its vital organs, something we usually see at the mannequins used in modern medicine. The angel is based on Alfred Boucher’s sculpture ‘L’Hirondelle’ (1920). In Hirst’s version, cross-sections of her body show the anatomical structure beneath the skin, revealing she is human after all. The Anatomy of an Angel is widely considered one of Hirst’s signature pieces.

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