'Exquisite Pain' by Damien Hirst

'Exquisite Pain'.

"I like the confusion you get between science and religion...

that's where belief lies and art as well."

- Damien Hirst

Inside the Priory Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great, in the south transept, you will find an anatomically correct statue of St Bartholomew. The statue has his skin draped over his right arm, with his right hand holding a scalpel. His left hand holds a pair of scissors.

It is a striking piece, eerily gleaming against the darkness of the interior of the church, which, when first seen, is very unsettling. However, the more I studied it the more captivated I became.

Who was St Bartholomew?

St Bartholomew was one of Jesus' Apostles, who, following the Ascension, travelled through Asia before heading to Europe. While in Armenia, preaching the Gospel, he fell foul of the authorities and was tortured to death by being skinned alive. However, there is no record of him, nor anyone else for that matter, being flayed alive for religious reasons, in that area.

St Bartholomew-the-Great.

'Exquisite Pain'.

Unveiled in 2006 'Exquisite Pain' is a 24-carat gilded bronze sculpture, which stands at 2.5 metres in height. The title 'Exquisite Pain' alludes to the agonising martyrdom.

This is traditional imagery of the saint which can be seen in the Sistine chapel and Milan Cathedral.

The sculpture is a representation of the saint holding his own flayed skin, along with a scalpel and scissors. Usually, St Bartholomew is seen holding a long knife, but Damien Hirst decided to show him with a scalpel and to have an anatomically correct body, cementing the link between the church and nearby St Bartholomew's Hospital. 

Of the piece Damien Hirst has said:

"This work acts as a reminder that the strict demarcation between art, religion and science is a relatively recent development and that depictions of Saint Bartholomew were often used by medics

 to aid in anatomy studies."

He has also said that the scissors were inspired by Tim Burton's 1990 film 'Edward Scissorhands', saying:

"Edwards exposure and pain is seemingly self-inflicted. It’s kind of beautiful yet tragic."

Damien Hirst.

Damien Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is considered the most famous and reportedly the wealthiest member of the Young British Artists, who were a loose group who dominated the UK art scene in the 1990s.

A core theme running through nearly all of Hirst's work is mortality, death, and transience, often explored through a combination of shock, cool aesthetics, and a questioning of human existence, faith, and medicine.

His work frequently sparks debate, not only over the themes, but particularly for using dead animals.