'A Second Life': Tracey Emin’s Expansive Retrospective at Tate Modern
London
02 April 2026

On view at Tate Modern from 27 February to 31 August 2026, 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life' marks the most comprehensive retrospective to date of one of Britain’s most influential contemporary artists. Spanning over four decades of practice, the exhibition brings together more than 90 works across painting, sculpture, installation, video, textile and neon, offering an expansive survey of Emin’s autobiographical oeuvre. 

Emerging in the 1990s as part of the Young British Artists, Tracey Emin became widely known for her confessional approach, blurring the boundaries between art and life. Works such as My Bed (1998), included in the exhibition, showcase her raw and unfiltered engagement with themes of intimacy, trauma and personal history, which have come to define her practice. 

'A Second Life' traces this trajectory while also foregrounding the evolution of Emin’s work in recent years. Alongside early, career-defining pieces, the exhibition presents more recent paintings and sculptures shaped by experiences of illness, survival and renewal. The title itself suggests both continuity and transformation, reflecting a practice that has continually reconfigured itself while remaining anchored in emotional honesty. 

Installed in the Eyal Ofer Galleries, the exhibition adopts a retrospective structure, charting Emin’s development from her early works in the late 1980s through to the present day. Across diverse media, her practice consistently returns to the body as both subject and site, exploring love, grief and resilience with an immediacy that resists aesthetic distance. 

While Emin’s work has often provoked controversy, this exhibition underscores her enduring significance within contemporary art history. No longer solely framed by the provocations of her early career, she is presented here as a painter and artist whose sustained commitment to self-representation has reshaped the possibilities of autobiographical art. 

By bringing together landmark works and previously unseen pieces, 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life' provides a rare opportunity to consider the full breadth of Emin’s contribution, situating her not only as a defining figure of her generation but as a continually evolving voice in contemporary art.