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Enter The Infinite (H1)

Damien Hirst's first numbered release with HENI, 'H1 - Enter The Infinite' (2016), is a set of 12 jacquard-woven tapestries, each 250 x 250 cm. Every design was built from sections of one 2008 'Spin Painting', reflected and repeated into a symmetrical burst of colour, and each design was woven in an edition of 20, with four artist's proofs.

All Enter The Infinite (H1) Works By Damien Hirst (12)

Significance & Analysis

'Enter The Infinite' opened Hirst's numbered HENI sequence by moving the spin painting from canvas to loom. A spinning machine had already shaped the original painting; here a loom made the finished work.

From spin to weave

Hirst's spin paintings are made by pouring paint onto a surface as it turns, so speed and chance shape the result as much as the artist does. For the tapestries, that randomness was put through a strict geometric process. The source was a single spin painting of 2008, 'Beautiful Flailing, Falling, Grip on Reality, Pull Yourself Together Painting'. Sections of it were divided and mirrored to produce twelve compositions, each built around a still point at the centre.

The designs were then woven on a jacquard loom, which builds a pattern from coded instructions rather than by hand. Unlike a print, a tapestry has a real surface: the colour sits in interlaced thread. At 2.5 metres square, each work hangs at the scale of a large painting.

Why 'Enter The Infinite'

The title describes what the mirroring does to the eye. Repeated reflections suggest planes of symmetry that continue without end, and the patterns seem to pulse inwards and outwards from the centre. Several designs resolve into a cross at their heart: a thin blue cross in 'Ecstasy', a yellow, green and blue one in 'Prophecy'. The strict symmetry has been compared to a Rorschach inkblot, an image that invites viewers to project meaning onto it, which suits a series widely read as being about vision and belief.

At auction

The standout result came at Sotheby's London in October 2021, when 'Ecstasy', numbered 19/20, sold for £151,200 with fees. Later results have been lower: in October 2024 'Supernatural', numbered 20/20, sold online at Phillips London for £44,450 including fees.

Before and after

After the tapestries, the numbered releases turned to print, with a colour chart in H2 and a glitter colour chart in H3, both covered on H3 - Colour Charts. The spin returned in 2023 with H12 - The Beautiful Paintings. In H1 the image still came from a painting Hirst had made, and machines only mirrored and wove it. In H12, software generated the image itself, and collectors chose its colours and style.

Is H1 - Enter The Infinite A Print Or A Tapestry?

A tapestry. Each work is jacquard-woven in colour, not printed, so it is a textile rather than a sheet or panel. Hirst signed and numbered each one in black felt-tip pen on a fabric label fixed to the reverse, with HENI Productions, London, as publisher. The number reads out of 20, or the label marks the work as one of four artist's proofs.

How Many H1 - Enter The Infinite Tapestries Were Made?

Twelve designs, from H1-1 'Revelation' to H1-12 'Seeing', were each woven in an edition of 20 with four artist's proofs. That gives 240 numbered tapestries and 48 proofs across the series. Each design is its own edition, so any single image exists in at most 24 examples.

Why Do The H1 - Enter The Infinite Titles Sound Religious?

Because they name states of spiritual vision: 'Revelation', 'Dream', 'Supernatural', 'Trance', 'Light', 'Rapture', 'Being', 'Ecstasy', 'Glory', 'Exaltation', 'Prophecy' and 'Seeing'. Belief, alongside religion and science, runs through Hirst's work, and the titles are usually read as an attempt to make abstract art that offers a transcendent experience. At auction the series is often catalogued as 'Enter the Infinite (The Visions)'.

How Large Is An H1 - Enter The Infinite Tapestry?

Each is published as 250 x 250 cm, about 98 inches square. Woven pieces vary slightly, and one example of 'Ecstasy' measured 252.5 x 254 cm. Small differences between catalogued measurements are normal and do not indicate a different edition.