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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment

Damien Hirst: Beyond Belief

Damien Hirst
View across the exhibition showing Biopsy Paintings on the left, the life-sized silver figure Saint Bartholomew in the centre, and the formaldehyde work Death Explained 2007, showing a dissected shark, in the background. Photograph: Stephen White/Science Ltd and Jay Jopling/ White Cube
Damien Hirst
Visitors stand behind a dove in formaldehyde entitled The Incomplete Truth, part of the Natural History series. Photograph: Daniel Deme/EPA
Damien Hirst
View showing Hirst's The Incomplete Truth and the Birth Paintings behind, which depict the birth of the artist’s youngest son Cyrus by caesarean section in August 2005. Photograph: Stephen White/Science Ltd and Jay Jopling/ White Cube
Damien Hirst
A visitor inspects dissected cows, part of the Natural History series. Photograph: Daniel Deme/EPA
Damien Hirst
A man examines Death Explained, originally conceived as a drawing in 1991, which presents a tiger shark divided longitudinally with each half of its body suspended in a separate tank of formaldehyde. Photograph: Daniel Deme/EPA
Damien Hirst
A visitor looks at one side of Hirst's dissected shark, Death Explained, which has been suspended in two different tanks. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty
Damien Hirst
A woman stands behind Hirst's Sacred (With Hope) - an animal heart pierced by a dagger. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP
Damien Hirst
Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain shows a single tank containing a black calf, its body pierced by dozens of arrows and cable-tied to a steel post. Photograph: Stephen White/Science Ltd and Jay Jopling/ White Cube
Damien Hirst
A glass tank containing an incubator, part of a series of works on the birth of Hirst's youngest son in August 2005. Photograph: Stephen White/Science Ltd and Jay Jopling/ White Cube
For the Love of God
And finally ... For the Love of God, a life-sized cast of a human skull in platinum. The work is covered entirely by 8,601 VVS to flawless pavé-set diamonds, weighing a total of 1,106.18 carats. The piece is valued at £50m and Hirst himself keeps only a copy at home. "You couldn't really just shove it on the mantelpiece," he told reporters. Photograph: Science Ltd and Jay Jopling/ White Cube
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