Damien Hirst, the second-most- expensive living artist at auction, gave London's Tate museum four of his trademark artworks, including pickled cows and a canvas of dead flies, the Tate said in a statement today. Hirst donated "The Acquired Inability to Escape," from 1991, a large vitrine with cigarette stubs;"Life Without You," from the same year, a sea-shell arrangement on a desk; one of his series of fly paintings, "Who Is Afraid of the Dark?" from 2002; and a 2007 exhibition copy of "Mother and Child Divided," a bisected cow and calf in formaldehyde. Museums are struggling to buy works by top contemporary artists like Hirst after prices quadrupled in 11 years. The Tate, which counted more than 7.7 million visitors in the 12 months through March, said the donation was the first part of a "major gift of works" that Hirst had promised from his own collection. "With such a limited budget for acquisitions, and when art market prices are high, Tate is indebted to international contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst for working with us on building the collection," Tate Director Nicholas Serota said in the statement. Hirst, 42, is the U.K.'s wealthiest artist, with a fortune and art collection estimated at 130 million pounds ($265 million) by London's Sunday Times. With U2 singer Bono, he is backing a $40 million AIDS charity auction of art in New York on Feb. 14, 2008, after donating about $13.6 million of his own works, including a $7 million pill cabinet. "It means a lot to me to have works in the Tate," Hirst said in the release. "I've been in negotiations with the Tate for a few years to make sure they get the right pieces to represent me properly."