Mick Hartley

Damien Hirst's auction sale at Sotheby's went well, we're all pleased to hear:

Against a backdrop of carnage in the global financial markets Hirst walked away with £95.7 million last night for two years' worth of pickled animals, spot paintings, dead butterfly collages and stubbed-out cigarettes. But what the sale means for his dealers, other artists and the art market in general is anybody's guess.

The part played by Damien himself and his chums in all this – as entrepreneurs – has not been insignificant:

Last year Hirst unveiled and apparently sold the world's most expensive piece of contemporary art, a diamond-encrusted platinum cast of a human skull. It turned out, however, that he was part of the consortium that had bought it for £50 million.

At Monday's evening sale a coloured triptych with butterflies called Heaven Can Wait, sold for £850,000, far above its £500,000 estimate.

The buyer who set the tone for the night was Jay Jopling, founder of White Cube, Hirst's London gallery. Although White Cube and Gagosian Gallery in New York were the ostensible losers from Hirst's decision to cut them out and sell straight to the open market, they also have significant holdings of his work that would have fallen in value if the sale had floppped. A spokesman for White Cube told The Times that Jopling had bid on 20 of the 56 lots sold on Monday night and he was at Sotheby's again yesterday.

What to say? Well, Rachel Campbell-Johnston thinks this sale "could almost be seen as his most successful artwork". I think his bank account could be seen as his most successful artwork. George Szirtes, though, should have the last word.