“The thing about Mickey is that even though he’s gone through so many shifts in form and association, he’s timeless.”

—Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst’s Mickey (Blue Glitter) of 2016 reimagines Disney’s iconic character through the visual language of his Spot Paintings, distilling Mickey Mouse into a self-referential series of bold, flat circles. The composition reduces his instantly recognisable form to its essential elements – black ears, red shorts, and yellow shoes – while the glittering blue background evokes a childlike sense of fun and wonder. Despite the abstraction, the character remains immediately identifiable, demonstrating the enduring power of beloved cultural symbols and their ability to transcend stylistic transformation.

Hirst’s engagement with Mickey Mouse began in 2012 when he was commissioned by Disney to create a large-scale household gloss painting on canvas, which was later auctioned to support the children’s charity Kids Company. In making the work, Hirst joined a long tradition of artists – including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Claes Oldenburg – who have explored Mickey Mouse as a pop cultural symbol. While some, like Banksy in Napalm (2006), have used Mickey to critique consumerism, Hirst instead embraces his joyful, playful nature and universal appeal. For Hirst, the magic of Mickey and Minnie Mouse lies in their timelessness, and he has remarked that his own children watch and enjoy the cartoons just as he did as a boy.

“I think a lot of people will say my work is childish or child-like and I think neither of those things is a bad thing […] In the face of the world, we're always children.”

—Damien Hirst

The use of glitter enhances the work’s relationship to spectacle and desire – qualities central to both Disney’s brand and Hirst’s broader practice. The shimmering surface lends a celebratory, almost tactile quality, reinforcing the work’s engagement with childhood nostalgia and the aesthetics of mass culture. Furthermore, in stripping Mickey Mouse down to his most basic elements, Hirst also plays with the tension between abstraction and recognition, demonstrating the power of minimalism to evoke nostalgia, playfulness, and enduring appeal.