Damien Hirst’s 200-Year Posthumous Art Plan: A Critical UK Copyright Perspective
Damla Karabay, LL.M '26
Introduction
Death is a central theme lingering in Damien Hirst’s art. Now, it’s making an appearance in an all-new way.
In May of 2025, in an interview with the London Times, Hirst announced an unprecedented artistic and legal experiment: a plan to “create” artworks for 200 years after his death. He calls them “posthumous paintings;” his manager calls them “preposterous paintings.”
To execute this plan, Hirst plans to “fill up” 200 notebooks, each corresponding to a year after his death. The...