Damien Hirst

Part of Hirst's "Empresses" series named for five famous female rulers, composed of butterfly wings arranged in a kaleidoscopic pattern on a flaming red background. The series expands upon themes such as freedom, religion, life and death associated with Hirst's butterfly works by intertwining them with additional themes such as glory, war, female power, anger, love, joy, luck and the development of nations. "Nūr Jahān" is named for the empress consort of the Mughal Empire who was believed to be the real power behind the throne of Emporer Jahangir. The arrangement of the butterflies on the print evokes the mosaics in her father's mausoleum in Agra, one of numerous architectural works she commissioned, and believed to be the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.