Damien Hirst, Cherry Blossoms

The National Art Center, Tokyo and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will present Damien Hirst, Cherry Blossoms, the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Japan, opening on 2 March and running until 23 May 2022.

In his over 30-year career, the pre-eminent British contemporary artist Damien Hirst has explored a variety of themes including art, religion, science, and life and death, employing a wide range of media, such as painting, sculpture, and installation.
In his latest series of paintings, Cherry Blossoms, Hirst offers his own unique interpretation of Western painting from Post-Impressionism to Action painting, creating a group of brilliantly colored, dynamic landscapes. For Hirst, an artist who has continued to make abstract paintings since the late ’80s, the series is also a great achievement in terms of his use of color and pictorial space. The landscapes, the largest of which were executed on huge canvases with a height of over five meters and a length of seven meters, transport us into a fantastical world as we stand beneath the row of cherry trees in fleeting and vibrant bloom.

In 2021, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presented this series for the first time internationally, and received great acclaim. It is interesting to note that the exhibition, Hirst’s first major solo show in Japan, will be held at the National Art Center, Tokyo, as the institution is surrounded by cherry trees, which attract a host of visitors every spring when the trees are in bloom. Hirst has specially selected works from the series of 107 canvases for one of the Center’s galleries, and the exhibition is highly anticipated as a means of providing visitors with an opportunity to appreciate these pictorial expressions, and offering them a respite from the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organised by The National Art Center, Tokyo, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

Co-organised by: Nikkei Inc.