RESULTS FOR 2008
Ranking: 397=
Worth: £200m
Source of wealth: Art
Last summer the artist Damien Hirst, 42, sold a world-beating £180m-worth of his work at a London exhibition, including a £50m diamond-encrusted skull, pictured. In all, he owns more than 1,000 works valued at £100m. Born in Bristol and raised in Leeds, Hirst is a graduate of Goldsmiths College, London. He was discovered by Charles Saatchi (qv) and today his reputation as an artist is matched by his wealth. Hirst opened the Pharmacy restaurant in Notting Hill, which closed in 2003. A year later, he sold its art contents at Sotheby’s for £11m. The Pharmacy deal followed an exhibition, Romance in the Age of Uncertainty, at the White Cube gallery, where he made a further £11m. He used the money to buy back his work from Saatchi, including his pickled shark, sheep and cows. Hirst has a vast Gloucestershire studio and a £3m country pile there. He also has four buildings in Lambeth to turn into studios and exhibition space. He is reckoned to be the first artist to play dealers and curators at their own game, buying back much of his own work and investing in whole collections by the likes of his friend Sarah Lucas. Hirst now takes a 70% cut of all new work he sells, rather than the usual 50-50. But while there is little money in his main company, Murderme, with £12.4m assets in 2004-05, Hirst reckons his wealth is more substantial, saying: “I'm richer than any artist has ever been at my age.” Last July’s London show should have raised £135m after commission. With his property, other sale proceeds and the insurance value of his art, we put Hirst at £200m, allowing for tax and a £10m gift last Christmas of four works to the Tate, including the seminal dissected cow.
RESULTS FOR 2007
Ranking: 532=
Worth: £130m
Source of wealth: Art
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