Damien Hirst: tour the Wallace Collection show

Money shot ... Hirst, the world's richest living artist, in front of photographers at today's press view Photograph: Sarah Lee

Hirst pictured in front of White Roses and Butterflies (2008). All of the works have been created within the last three years and have never been shown before in the UK Photograph: Sarah Lee

Fellow artist Grayson Perry (right) arrives with his wife Phillipa Photograph: Sarah Lee

A visitor looks at White Roses and Butterflies (2008) Photograph: Sarah Lee

Bones and human heads are a reoccurring motif in Hirst's work: pictured here is a detail from Floating Skull (2006) Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The paintings hang in a single, long space in the gallery. Shown here are Skull, Shark's Jaw and Iguana on a Table Photograph: Sarah Lee

All of the 25 works are rendered in an inky blue-black, with spidery white lines that seem to reference Francis Bacon, one of Hirst's obvious influences Photograph: Katie Collins/PA

The ghostly overtones remind Adrian Searle of American artist Ross Bleckner, whose works he says, 'similarly glow with a frosty chill against the eternal dark' Photograph: Sarah Lee

But Hirst's explorations of mortality, suggest Adrian Searle, pale beside the likes of Bacon and Giacometti Photograph: Sarah Lee

Men Shall Know Nothing (2008), one of the several triptychs in the exhibition Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The Wallace Collection is a traditional gallery, most famous for displaying 18th century French paintings and antique furniture; there has been some speculation that its decision to hang Hirst's work is not unconnected to his donation of £250,000 to restore sections of the gallery Photograph: Katie Collins/PA

But at least the public won't have to pay: entrance is free Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA