The bisected body of a woman is to go on permanent display at a London gallery.

The artwork has been created by Professor Gunther von Hagens, who specialises in skinning and preserving human corpses and modelling them into sculptures.

It has been acquired by the Wellcome Trust, which has announced it will go on show in its permanent collection after obtaining a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

The trust defended commissioning the 2mm thick slice of the body of an anonymous donor between two sheets of see-through plastic.

"We thought long and hard about doing this," said Ken Arnold, the curator in charge of the trust's collection of art. "We are absolutely sure this is a donor who wanted to donate her body.

"There is a certain beauty to the exhibit and I think, in an age where we see most medical images on a computer screen, it is a valid exhibit. Many would argue that Professor von Hagens is an artist in his field."

The German professor shot to fame with Body Worlds, a popular but controversial exhibition of more than 200 plastinated bodies in eerily lifelike poses.

In 1977, he invented the plastination process in which corpses are preserved by removing their water and fat and replacing them with plastic. The skin is peeled back to provide a glimpse of muscle, bone and organs.

Body Worlds has been travelling the world since 1995 and has been seen by 20 million people, including 850,000 who saw it in London in 2002 and 2003.

In 2005, Professor von Hagens was accused of using the corpses of political prisoners. He denied the claims, saying all his bodies were donated. However, seven bodies from the exhibition were returned to China after two were found to have bullet holes in the backs of their heads.