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Butterflies are forms of beauty, but in the work of Damien Hirst they are also tools of provocation. For a now legendary 1991 show, the artist attached live pupae to white canvases, allowing the insects to hatch, fly, mate, and die over the course of the installation. Concurrently exhibited paintings incorporated whole specimens onto glossy monochrome grounds—an innovation that anticipated his landmark Kaleidoscope series, begun in 2001, for which he assembled real wings into dazzling compositions reminiscent of rose windows. At Claridge’s hotel in London, Damien Hirst has returned to that motif, albeit for the first time ever in stained glass. Measuring some eight by six feet, his laylight now beckons guests up the property’s main staircase, which climbs seven flights from the entrance to the Royal Suite to the dormer balconies. “I love Claridge’s and I love light and I love butterflies,” says Hirst, who refers to the work as an “optimistic kaleidoscope of hope.” We call it reason enough to book a stay. claridges.co.uk
