In May 2020, Damien Hirst created Butterfly Rainbow to show support for the NHS in the Coronavirus crisis. The work is made up of bands of coloured butterfly wings, one of the artist’s best‐known motifs. A limited edition of the work was produced with all profits donated to NHS Charities Together, raising a total of £1,508,172.
Damien Hirst said: “I wanted to do something to pay tribute to the wonderful work NHS staff are doing in hospitals around the country. The rainbow is a sign of hope and I think it is brilliant that parents and children are creating their own version and putting them up in the windows of their homes.”
We are proud to display a print of this work at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. Gestures such as this raise much needed funds to make the lives of our patients, their families and our staff better, but this also strongly supports our Art for Health and Wellbeing programme by helping us to boost the health and wellbeing of those who use our services.
Damian has also made a poster version of his design for people to download and display in windows at their homes.