By Emilia Novak
The opening of Tracey Emin: A Second Life at Tate Modern in February 2026 marks a decisive moment in the realignment of contemporary British art history. As the most ambitious survey of Tracey Emin to date, the exhibition formally consolidates her transition from the polarising figure of the Young British Artists generation into a position of institutional authority and scholarly respect.
Spanning over ninety works across painting, sculpture, video, textile, neon and installation, the retrospective presents four decades of practice with a tone of restraint and clarity. For collectors, this is not merely a cultural milestone; it is a structural market signal. Canonisation brings scarcity into sharper focus, particularly with regard to unique works that are increasingly absorbed into long-term institutional collections.
The Curatorial Architecture of A Second Life
Curated under the direction of Maria Balshaw, the exhibition departs from the sensational framing that surrounded Emin in the 1990s. Deep-toned gallery walls and intimate staging encourage concentrated encounters with the work, repositioning her practice as one of sustained formal inquiry rather than episodic controversy.
The narrative unfolds through the dual structure of a “first life” and “second life.” The pivotal installation My Bed (1998) anchors this transition — once interpreted as provocation, now understood as a psychological document of extraordinary prescience. The work bridges her early confessional mode with the later paintings and sculptural works that emerged after her 2020 cancer diagnosis.
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