Hirst's Christmas present to the Tate

The works are the first major gift by the 42-year-old artist to a museum and follow several years of talks with the gallery.

Along with other leading British artists, Hirst pledged three years ago to give a significant piece to augment the Tate's contemporary holdings. But the donation of four works from his personal collection - with the promise of more to come - is one of the most generous and high-profile to date.

It includes Mother And Child Divided, a bisected cow and calf preserved in glass tanks. The original was created in 1993 and is now owned by the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo.

What Hirst has donated is a copy specially prepared for exhibition in the Turner Prize retrospective which is at Tate Britain until 6 January.

The other gifts include a 2002 "painting" comprising dead black flies and a glass cabinet of items suggesting a smoker called The Acquired Inability to Escape. This dates from 1991, only three years after the Freeze exhibition which Hirst curated while at Goldsmiths art college and which is regarded as the defining show of his generation of Young British Artists.

The gifts are a massive boost to the Tate's holdings of an artist whom collector Charles Saatchi has named as the one contemporary artist who will be remembered a century from now.

Until now, the Tate has had the installation Pharmacy, a chemist's shop of pill bottles and drugs created in 1992, and a number of prints. The pieces are donated to the Tate collection which means they could be displayed at any of the museums under the Tate banner.

Sir Nicholas Serota, the Tate's director, said: "I am extremely grateful to Damien for his overwhelming generosity in making such a significant gift and for working to ensure we have an important range of his work."

Hirst said: "It means a lot to me to have works in the Tate. I would never have thought it possible when I was a student. I've been in negotiations for a few years to make sure they get the right pieces. I think giving works from my collection is a small thing if it means millions of people get to see the work displayed in a great space."

Hirst, who was born in 1965 in Bristol, is the world's most expensive living artist, hitting the headlines this year with a £50 million diamond skull.