Million dollar fish!

Damien Hirst's 'dead shark' is considered one of the world’s most expensive art pieces sold at the price tag of 12 million dollars!

“The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” is a title of one of the world’s most expensive art pieces sold with the price tag of 12 million dollars! What’s even more surprising is that the art piece we're talking about here is a dead tiger shark in a tank (vitrine) full of formaldehyde.

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Being a member of ‘Young British Artists’ group, artist Damien Hirst created a contemporary art in 1991 which happens to be the $12 million art-piece in 2005. Although his work still remains incomprehensible by many till now. There are numerous criticism around the dead shark claiming what makes the dead shark cost $12 million? Art economists and experts claim that art is an investment for many biggies as it involves less risk than investing in stocks and real estate. Well, nobody can define a piece of art for anyone. As art can have different meanings for different people, this is primarily the reason why its price can never be fathomed given its variable value.

When this piece was put on exhibition for the first time in 1992 it also opened up questions on how we interact with our natural surrounding and animal species. This happened as people for the first time were seeing a dead 13-foot shark in a tank depleted from its natural surroundings, looking all motionless and frozen. The fact that the shark is dead and seeing it in a middle of an exhibition still generates a psychological fear in minds of people and make them potentially face their fear, which therefore justifies the title given to this piece of art.

The piece of dead shark in a tank changed the course of art in the 20th century altogether. It raised many questions as it also lost its originality in 2006 when it was replaced with another dead shark as the earlier one was not preserved well and the liquid turned yellow and deteriorated the condition of the shark. The artist therefore has raised his concerns and said what’s more important the original artwork or the original intention?