Tracey Emin's Major Tate Retrospective
A major retrospective of Tracey Emin is now open at Tate Modern, tracing her evolution from shock value to nuanced explorations of vulnerability. Emin ironically reflects in the catalog: "I'm starting to think I am a really boring artist," despite her career's massive impact including the infamous 1998 work "My Bed."
Titled "A Second Life," Tracey Emin's largest-ever retrospective is now open at the Tate Modern, running from February 27 to August 31, 2026. The exhibition features over 90 works, spanning 40 years of her career and includes painting, sculpture, video, textile, and neon. The retrospective's title, "A Second Life," is a poignant reference to the artist's recent and harrowing battle with an aggressive form of squamous cell bladder cancer diagnosed in 2020. This experience with mortality and her subsequent recovery has profoundly influenced her recent work, which explores themes of survival, the body, and rebirth. Among the key works on display is the infamous "My Bed" (1998), the Turner Prize-nominated installation that powerfully captures a period of deep personal crisis. Another pivotal piece, "Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made" (1996), documents a three-week performance where Emin locked herself in a Stockholm gallery to reconcile with painting after a six-year hiatus. The exhibition also delves into Emin's deep and career-long connection with the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. She has long cited Munch as a major influence, seeing him as a "friend in art" for his raw and emotionally honest explorations of the human condition, a quality that resonates strongly in her own confessional style. Her return to her hometown of Margate is another significant thread in the exhibition. After feeling "crushed" by London and following her mother's death and her own illness, she moved back to the seaside town. There, she has established the Tracey Emin Artist Residency, providing free studio space for artists. New and recent works are a central focus, including the bronze sculpture "Ascension" (2024), which explores her new relationship with her body post-surgery. The exhibition also features stills from a new documentary and large-scale paintings that confront the physical realities of her illness and survival. Emin's earlier, provocative works as part of the Young British Artists (YBAs) movement of the 1990s are contextualized alongside her more recent, introspective pieces. This juxtaposition highlights a career trajectory from an artist known for "shock value" to one whose work has gained a new "gravitas and focus" through her life experiences.
