The Representation of Models of Emotion in Damien Hirst's Works of Art

ABSTRACT

The analysis of the link between emotions and art has an established place in the humanities. What attracts interest is, to equal degrees, the emotions experienced by both creators and the audience and the symbolic forms of emotion representation present in artistic realisations. Five independent theoretical models of emotion are currently discussed in psychology. The article is a creative attempt to explore various ways of representing emotions in works of art, consistent with the assumptions of these models. This suggests new ways of interpreting a work of art as a vehicle of emotional contents that go beyond elementary aesthetic experiences, organised from biologically conditioned responses to culturally developed symbols. These links have been illustrated in the works of British artist Damien Hirst.

KEYWORDS:

• Modern art
• Damien Hirst
• emotions
• symbolic representation of emotions
• models of emotions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Copies of most of Damien Hirst's artworks’ retrieved 27 July 2016, from www.damienhirst.com.

2 https://www.ardmore.co.uk/blog/art-of-snooker-322/