Damien Hirst review – a breathtaking spectacle (with some art on show, too)

Houghton Hall, Norfolk
The flayed unicorns are good fun, the ping-pong balls hypnotic. Yet it all pales amid the fairytale grandeur of its surroundings

In the servant’s hall, two dead hares in vitrines look perfectly at home among the antler trophies. No, wait – they are at home. These are not artworks by Damien Hirst but a small part of the atmospheric decor of one of England’s most astounding stately homes.

It is just one more victory for Houghton Hall in its head-to-head aesthetic contest with our wealthiest living artist. Hirst plays the house and the house wins. However surreal and attention-grabbing his efforts, Houghton Hall consistently outdoes them, absorbing outsized anatomical statues into the dreamlike expanse of its landscaped estate, putting spot paintings in the shade with rococo tapestries and fairytale beds.

Related: Damien Hirst to show new spot paintings at 18th-century mansion

Hirst's painting has no life, no poetry. No matter – I get to use the gothic toilet, with sketches by Sargent to look at

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