Painting by Numbers: Red and Blue are the New Black

Damien Hirst, Painting By Numbers (Blue)
Damien Hirst, Painting By Numbers (Blue)

This year is historic for the colours red white and blue, but it seems that the red and blue are causing a bit of a stir at present.

Who knew colours could have such a hidden meaning? It seems sport is the big talking point now the Jubilee celebrations are over and our focus is on the Olympics.

The Olympic kit
The Olympic kit

The recent unveiling of the Team GB Olympic kit sparked worry amongst the superstitious and the scientific. In 2005 scientists from the University of Durham found that competitors who wear red perform better and win more than those who wear blue.

This doesn’t bode well for Team GB as Stella McCartney has used blue has the prominent colour throughout her designs.

Another recent red and blue sports strip story came from Cardiff City Football club. Having worn blue for as long as their fans can remember, their Malaysian owners have made a drastic decision to change the previously aptly named Bluebirds’ kit to the ‘winning’ red colour. The reasoning being – this is an effort to ‘help develop the clubs brand’. What will they change their name too? Scarlet Tanager perhaps? It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as Bluebird.l

Perhaps we should not worry about it too much: after all, in football blue did prevail over red at the end of this year’s domestic competitions (the blues of Manchester City and Chelsea defeating the reds of Manchester United and Bayern Munich).

Damien Hirst, Painting By Numbers Red
Damien Hirst, Painting By Numbers Red

If however, you feel you need to satisfy your colour desire with art, Damien Hirst’s Painting by Numbers could be just the thing for you. Available in, yes you’ve guessed it, red and blue. Each work, comes with 90 brushes, 90 enamels paints – each with a different number and a blank canvas with outlines of circular dots in neat rows with a number corresponding to that of the paint pots. A comedic take on his spot motif, Painting by Numbers will satisfy the inner child in you.

Slightly more expensive than the average painting by numbers for children, these Hirst pieces come in at £6,000 and are signed by the artist himself. Which one would you choose: red or blue?

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