Death becomes him: Damien Hirst at Tate Modern – in pictures

Monday, 02 Apr 2012

The artist's first retrospective in Britain will bring together key works from the past 20 years, from Mother and Child Divided to The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. At London's Tate Modern from 4 April to 9 September 2012

Gallery

Damien Hirst: Damien Hirst poses infront of 'Doorways to the Kingdom of Heaven' — Damien Hirst in front of his triptych entitled Doorways to the Kingdom of Heaven Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Damien Hirst: Visitors look at Damien Hirst's piece 'Death Explained' — **Mother and Child Divided**, exhibition copy 2007 (1993 original in collection of Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo) Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Damien Hirst: One of Hirst's sculptures, a giant ashtray, fills one of the galleries — One of Hirst's sculptures, a giant ashtray, fills one of the galleries Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Damien Hirst: Lullaby, the Seasons 2002 (detail) — **Lullaby, the Seasons, 2002 (detail)**
Hirst began making medicine cabinets while still an art student. In 1992 he exhibited Pharmacy, a room-sized installation now on show in Hirst's Tate Modern survey show Photograph: Science Ltd. All rights reserved. DACS 2012. Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates

Damien Hirst: A man stands amongst and behind some of the pieces in the exhibition — A visitor looks at one of Hirst's 'spin' paintings: Beautiful, Childish, Expressive, Tasteless, Not Art, Over Simplistic, Throw Away, Kids' Stuff, Lacking Integrity, Rotating, Nothing but Visual Candy, Celebrating, Sensational, Inarguably Beautiful Painting (for over the Sofa), 1996 Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Damien Hirst: A woman walks past one of Hirst's sheep's head artworks — A woman walks past one of Hirst's artworks featuring a sheep's head Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Damien Hirst: Sympathy in White Major - Absolution II 2 — **Sympathy in White Major – Absolution II, 2006** (detail), butterflies and household gloss.
Butterflies are a recurring motif in Hirst's work: his 1991 installation In and Out of Love saw creatures hatching from pupae stuck to canvases and floating about the room, living and dying in the exhibition space. The installation is recreated in the Tate Modern exhibition Photograph: Science Ltd. All rights reserved. DACS 2012. Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates

Damien Hirst: A fly-covered cow's head, which forms part of 'A Thousand Years' — **A Thousand Years, 1990**. Made the year after Hirst left Goldsmiths College of Art, this double vitrine featuring a rotting cow's head, insecto-cutor and flies was first shown in the warehouse group show Gambler. In a recent interview, Hirst told Tate director Nicholas Serota that it is still possibly the most exciting thing he has ever made. Hirst also recalled that Lucian Freud said to him, about this work, that 'I think you started with the final act, my dear' Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Damien Hirst: A visitor contemplates Damien Hirst's shark — A visitor contemplates **The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living**. The work was commissioned by the collector Charles Saatchi; the original 14ft tiger shark was replaced in 2006. This and a smaller, more recent version are on show at Tate Modern Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Damien Hirst: A visitor photographs live butterflies at the Damien Hirst exhibition — A visitor photographs live butterflies that are part of the installation **In and Out of Love** Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Damien Hirst: A visitor views one of the Spot paintings by Damien Hirst — A visitor views one of Hirst's Spot paintings Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Damien Hirst: Visitors walk past a vitrine of dead fish in the Damien Hirst exhibition — Visitors walk past a vitrine of dead fish Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Damien Hirst: Sinner 1988 — **Sinner, 1988** One of Hirst's early medicine cabinets, made while a 23-year-old student – and the same year he curated the groundbreaking Freeze exhibition with Sarah Lucas, Angus Fairhurst, Matt Collishaw and others Photograph: Science Ltd. All rights reserved. DACS 2012. Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates

Monday, 02 Apr 2012

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Damien Hirst at Tate Modern - in pictures

A look at Damien Hirst's first retrospective in Britain

11, Mar, 2012 @12:05 AM

Damien Hirst Tate Modern retrospective opens

Cigarette butts, butterflies and that shark go on show as artist shrugs off critic's claim he is a 'spent force'

Mark Brown, arts correspondent

02, Apr, 2012 @5:36 PM

'Never let money get in the way of an idea': Damien Hirst walks through his Tate Modern show - video

The artist takes a tour through his retrospective at London's Tate Modern, alongside the show's curator, Ann Gallagher

16, Apr, 2012 @9:21 AM

Damien Hirst at Tate Modern: the making of my diamond skull - video

The controversial artist reveals his thoughts behind the construction of For the Love of God, his £50m platinum and diamond skull sculpture

18, Apr, 2012 @10:35 AM

Why the Tate has a thirst for Hirst

Jonathan Jones: A big Tate Modern show for the world's richest artist may seem unnecessary, but Damien Hirst has put British art on the map

Jonathan Jones

15, Mar, 2012 @2:46 PM

Damien Hirst – review

While some of the artist's early work is still powerful, this exhibition charts a great descent in Hirst's art, from life and death to excess and repetition, writes Adrian Searle

Adrian Searle

02, Apr, 2012 @9:08 AM

Damien Hirst – review

The early sections of this thorough retrospective remind us why Damien Hirst was once considered an innovator, writes Laura Cumming

Laura Cumming

07, Apr, 2012 @11:06 PM

Video: Damien Hirst seeks identical twins for Tate Modern artwork

Are you an identical twin? Damien Hirst would like you to appear in an artwork in front of his Spot Paintings at London's Tate Modern. Here, the artist explains why

11, Sep, 2009 @3:40 PM

Damien Hirst is at the top of the modern art food chain

Jonathan Jones: Hirst's pickled tiger shark changed the way I saw conceptualism. His forthcoming Tate retrospective will show how the rest of recent British art is a footnote to his brilliance

Jonathan Jones

24, Nov, 2011 @3:48 PM

Damien Hirst unicorn to open mystical show at Tate St Ives

The sculpture, never before seen in the UK, will be displayed among works by Barbara Hepworth and Derek Jarman at Cornwall's The Dark Monarch exhibition this autumn

Maev Kennedy

07, Aug, 2009 @3:26 PM