Glass, fibreboard, wood, steel and plastic
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/damien-hirst-2308" aria-label="More by Damien Hirst" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Damien Hirst</a>
Trinity  Pharmacology Physiology Pathology
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
anatomical model
anatomy
body
brain
display case / vitrine
dissection
education, science and learning
embryo / foetus
emotions, concepts and ideas
eye
formal qualities
found object / readymade
furnishings
Judaeo-Christian imagery
medical
objects
pathology
people
pharmacology
physiognomy
religion and belief
skull
society
teeth
torso
Trinity
womb
<p><i>Trinity – Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology </i>is a wall-mounted sculptural installation composed of three large glass fronted cabinets displayed in triptych formation, with the large central cabinet flanked by two equal sized smaller cabinets. Custom-made for the artist from white formica-covered MDF with identical steel fittings (handles and locks), the cabinets contain medical demonstration models – made of plastic, leather and wood – arranged on white shelves. The order in which the objects are arranged is aesthetic, rather than following any kind of logical or discursive rationale. Many items are repeated in two or all of the cabinets, or presented in several versions of the same thing. These include: enlarged eyeballs; foetuses in various stages of development both in and out of wombs; cross-sections of male and female reproductive organs; cross-sections of the skin with giant hair follicles; skulls – both adult and infant; enlarged teeth; and torsos with their skin removed to show the body’s internal organs and half the head sliced open to reveal the skull and part of the brain – two of these are brown skinned and stand side by side, evoking twins (the subject of ongoing fascination for Hirst). The cabinets also contain an enlarged brain; an enlarged heart; a pelvis and full set of vertebrae (painted various shades of green); an infant’s spine; hand, arm, leg and foot bones; an enlarged bisected kidney; a gynaecological model of a newborn infant; and a model of a woman’s lower torso, genitals and upper thighs. The largest object is a torso and head sliced horizontally into fifteen parts and hinged on a vertical stand so that they can be viewed separately.</p>
sculpture glass fibreboard wood steel plastic
14 March 2009 – 8 November 2009
2009-11-08
12 March 2009 – 8 November 2009
2009-11-08
2009-03-12
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2009-03-14
ARTIST ROOMS Damien Hirst
Collection based display
1 May 2010 – 22 May 2011
2011-05-22
1 May 2010 – 22 May 2011
2011-05-22
2010-05-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-05-01
Damien Hirst
Collection based display
15 July 2011 – 30 October 2011
2011-10-30
15 July 2011 – 30 October 2011
2011-10-30
2011-07-15
Leeds Art Gallery (Leeds, UK)
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/artgallery/
2011-07-15
ARTIST ROOMS 2011: Damien Hirst
Loan-out
4 April 2012 – 9 September 2012
2012-09-09
4 April 2012 – 9 September 2012
2012-09-09
2012-04-04
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2012-04-04
Damien Hirst
Exhibition
6 October 2012 – 27 October 2013
2013-10-27
6 October 2012 – 26 October 2013
2013-10-26
2012-10-06
New Art Gallery Walsall (Walsall, UK)
http://www.artatwalsall.org.uk/
2012-10-06
ARTIST ROOMS 2012: Hirst
Loan-out
20 June 2015 – 12 September 2015
2015-09-12
20 June 2015 – 12 September 2015
2015-09-12
2015-06-20
Pier Arts Centre (Stromness, UK)
http://www.pierartscentre.com/
2015-06-20
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Damien Hirst
Loan-out
30 January 2019 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
30 January 2019 – 27 May 2019
2019-05-27
2019-01-30
Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle (Berlin, Germany)
12 October 2019 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
2019-10-12
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (Aarhus, Denmark)
2019-01-30
Objects of Wonder
Tate partnerships & programmes
Trinity - Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology
object (left vitrine, displayed not including objects): 2135 × 1530 × 472 mm
object (central vitrine, displayed not including objects): 2745 × 1835 × 472 mm
object (right vitrine, displayed, not including objects): 2135 × 1530 × 472 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<p><i>Trinity – Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology </i>is a wall-mounted sculptural installation composed of three large glass fronted cabinets displayed in triptych formation, with the large central cabinet flanked by two equal sized smaller cabinets. Custom-made for the artist from white formica-covered MDF with identical steel fittings (handles and locks), the cabinets contain medical demonstration models – made of plastic, leather and wood – arranged on white shelves. The order in which the objects are arranged is aesthetic, rather than following any kind of logical or discursive rationale. Many items are repeated in two or all of the cabinets, or presented in several versions of the same thing. These include: enlarged eyeballs; foetuses in various stages of development both in and out of wombs; cross-sections of male and female reproductive organs; cross-sections of the skin with giant hair follicles; skulls – both adult and infant; enlarged teeth; and torsos with their skin removed to show the body’s internal organs and half the head sliced open to reveal the skull and part of the brain – two of these are brown skinned and stand side by side, evoking twins (the subject of ongoing fascination for Hirst). The cabinets also contain an enlarged brain; an enlarged heart; a pelvis and full set of vertebrae (painted various shades of green); an infant’s spine; hand, arm, leg and foot bones; an enlarged bisected kidney; a gynaecological model of a newborn infant; and a model of a woman’s lower torso, genitals and upper thighs. The largest object is a torso and head sliced horizontally into fifteen parts and hinged on a vertical stand so that they can be viewed separately.
<br/>
<br/>Hirst’s earliest use of the vocabulary of medicine for making art dates to the cabinets filled with pharmaceutical packaging that he created between 1989 and 1992, culminating in the room-sized installation <i>Pharmacy </i>1992 (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-pharmacy-t07187" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T07187</span></a>). In a group of works entitled <i>The Lovers </i>1991 (reproduced <i>Damien Hirst</i>, pp.118–19) he presented real specimens (internal organs taken from cows) in formaldehyde solution in jars lined up in rows on formica-covered cabinet shelves, the precursors to such works utilising whole and bisected animal carcasses as <i>Mother and Child Divided </i>1993 (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-mother-and-child-divided-t12751" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T12751</span></a>) and <i>Away from the Flock</i> 1994 (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-away-from-the-flock-ar00499" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00499</span></a>). The titles of these works herald the references to Christian iconography that have become central to Hirst’s artistic language, which equates medical science with religion and art. He first used a medical model as the basis for sculpture in 1999–2000, when he massively enlarged a semi-skinned and eviscerated male head and torso and cast it in painted bronze. Entitled <i>Hymn</i>
(reproduced <i>Damien Hirst </i>p.217), this sculpture, like <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-trinity-pharmacology-physiology-pathology-ar00500" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00500</span></a>, embodies Hirst’s equation of medical science with Christianity – both of which he views as belief systems which promise, but fail to deliver, any real redemption for our common fate – death. <i>Trinity – Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology </i>presents three types of medical science – the study of drugs, the functioning of the body and the study of disease – as metaphors for the holy trinity of the Christian church which unites the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in one. The format of the triptych is common in church altar-pieces, although they do not usually depict the actual trinity. In the same way, Hirst’s <i>Trinity </i>is a metaphorical association of image with idea, rather than actual illustration. In 2005 he commented:
<br/></p>
<blockquote>I just can’t help thinking that [medical] science is the new religion for many people ... there [are] four important things in life: religion, love, art and science. At their best, they’re all just tools to help you find a path through the darkness. None of them really work that well, but they help. Of them all, science sees to be the one right now. Like religion, it provides the glimmer of hope that maybe it will be all right in the end ... I want ... people to think about the combination of science and religion, basically. People tend to think of them as two very separate things, one cold and clinical, the other emotional and loving and warm. I [want] to leap over those boundaries and give you something that looks clinical and cold but has all the religious, metaphysical connotations too.</blockquote>
<blockquote>(Quoted in <i>Damien Hirst: New Religion</i>, exhibition catalogue, Paul Stolper, London 2005, p.V.)</blockquote>
<p>
<br/>
<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>Eduardo Cicelyn, Mario Codognato and Mirta D’Argenzio, <i>Damien Hirst</i>, exhibition catalogue, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples 2004, reproduced pp.210–11 and 212–13 (detail).
<br/>
<br/>Elizabeth Manchester
<br/>October 2009
<br/>
<br/></p>

Summary
2009-11-20T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Hirst's 'Trinity' consists of a trio of cabinets, the central being larger than the outer two, akin in style to a religious triptych. The name 'trinity' itself holds significant religious meaning, the union of three persons (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) in one Godhead; three becoming one. Here Hirst is focusing on three types of scientific study into the human body, factors which have now come to govern our everyday lives. Each cabinet is shelved and filled with plastic medical teaching models, most of which have been purchased from medical supply catalogues. Pharmacology is the science dealing with the preparation, uses, and especially the effects of drugs. Physiology is the branch of biology dealing with the functions and activities of living organisms and their parts, including all physical and chemical processes. Pathology is the science or the study of the origin, nature, and course of diseases.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
anatomical model anatomy body brain display case / vitrine dissection education, science and learning embryo / foetus emotions, concepts and ideas eye formal qualities found object / readymade furnishings Judaeo-Christian imagery medical objects pathology people pharmacology physiognomy religion and belief skull society teeth torso Trinity womb