LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters)- British artist Damien Hirst has invited some of the world's leading contemporary artists to donate works for an auction on Feb. 14 next year which is expected to raise more than $40 million for charity (Damien-on right-pictured with Larry Gagosian).
The (RED) Auction at Sotheby's in New York, also supported by Irish rocker Bono, will feature works by artists including Hirst himself, Georg Baselitz, Antony Gormley, Subodh Gupta, Anish Kapoor and Jeff Koons. The money will go to the United Nations Foundation to support HIV/AIDS relief programmes in Africa.
"I remember when I couldn't give my art away, it wasn't long ago either," Hirst said in a statement.
One of his pill cabinets fetched nearly $20 million earlier this year, and a red heart-shaped butterfly painting called "All You Need Is Love" is one of seven works Hirst is contributing to the charity sale and is expected to raise $1.0-1.5 million.
(This is an undated handout photograph of artist Damien Hirst's Lullaby Spring. Source: Sotheby's via Bloomberg News.)
"For a relatively small amount of effort on each artist's part we can actually save many lives," Hirst continued. "It's great to be able to give something back and make a difference."
Bono added: "I love art for art's sake, but what we have here is a real moment in art history."
The works on sale on Valentine's Day will be shown at the Gagosian Gallery in New York from Feb. 4 to 13. (Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
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