Tracey Emin, landmark retrospective A Second Life at Tate Modern
Published on 08/26/2026 at 15:35 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Tracey Emin leads Tate Modern’s 2026 program with the museum exhibition Tracey Emin: A Second Life in London. As Tate Modern confirms, the retrospective spans forty years of her practice and runs through August 31, 2026 in the Eyal Ofer Galleries. Tate Modern exhibition page
The retrospective at Tate Modern
The exhibition Tracey Emin: A Second Life is billed by Tate Modern as a landmark survey of Emin’s work, bringing together career-defining pieces and previously unseen material across media. ART at Berlin report
According to ART at Berlin, Tate Modern presents until August 31, 2026 the largest ever survey exhibition of Emin’s work, conceived in close collaboration with the artist and comprising over 100 works in painting, video, textile, neon, sculpture and installation. The show traces key life events that have shaped her artistic trajectory.
Museum frame and public reception
Tate Modern situates Emin as one of the most important contemporary artists of her generation, recalling how My Bed, nominated for the Turner Prize in 1999, challenged conventions of what art could be within a major museum context. The institution underscores her raw, confessional approach and autobiographical focus. Tate Modern exhibition page
Specialist coverage notes that Tate’s press view for A Second Life attracted several hundred attendees, underlining the exhibition’s weight within London’s 2026 museum season and its positioning as a central summer draw alongside other major retrospectives.
All news and background on Tracey Emin
For further reporting on Tracey Emin’s exhibitions, museum projects and market developments, the AD HOC NEWS archive offers additional context and data points.
The work core behind A Second Life
Across A Second Life, Emin’s use of the female body as a vehicle for exploring passion, pain and healing forms a consistent thread, from early embroidered blankets and videos through to large-scale recent paintings and bronzes.
The exhibition begins with material from her first solo show My Major Retrospective 1982-93, including tiny photographs documenting paintings she later destroyed, and continues through works such as Tracey Emin CV 1995, Why I Never Became A Dancer and the installation My Bed, to new sculptures like Ascension and monumental public works.
Where the artist stands now
Tracey Emin’s retrospective Tracey Emin: A Second Life remains on view at Tate Modern, London, through August 31, 2026, anchoring her current institutional presence.
Key facts on Tracey Emin
- Artist: Tracey Emin
- Medium / Genre: Installation, painting and drawing with autobiographical focus
- Born: 1963, Croydon, United Kingdom
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice based in the United Kingdom, with longstanding ties to London and Margate
- Active since: Late 1980s, with wider recognition from the 1990s Young British Artists context
- Key work groups: My Bed, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, autobiographical neon works, recent figurative paintings and bronzes
- Current/last exhibition: Tracey Emin: A Second Life, Tate Modern, London, February 27–August 31, 2026
- Major collections: Tate (London), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), National Portrait Gallery (London)
- Awards: Turner Prize nomination 1999; Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2013; Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) 2020
- Next date: Tracey Emin: A Second Life at Tate Modern, London, on view until August 31, 2026
Frequently asked questions about Tracey Emin
Where can I see Tracey Emin’s work in August 2026?
Tracey Emin’s major retrospective Tracey Emin: A Second Life is on view at Tate Modern in London until August 31, 2026, presenting works from the early 1990s to recent paintings and bronzes.
What does the exhibition A Second Life at Tate Modern include?
Tate Modern’s A Second Life gathers over 90 works across painting, sculpture, installation, video, textiles and neon, including iconic pieces such as My Bed and several large new bronzes.
How does Tracey Emin’s retrospective relate to her broader career?
The Tate Modern exhibition traces forty years of Emin’s practice, from early autobiographical textiles and videos to major installations and recent figurative painting, framing her confessional approach as central to contemporary British art history.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
