[title]
The largest ever Tracey Emin retrospective is landing in London at the end of the month – and we’ve named it one of the city’s most unmissable exhibitions of 2026.
Tracey Emin: A Second Life will kick off Tate Modern’s 2026 programme later this month, tracing the four decade career of one of Britain’s most renowned living artists.
Over 90 pieces will be exhibited in the landmark show, including Emin’s defining works. From her signature neons to textiles to never-before-exhibited bronze sculptures, prepare for plenty of confessional, confronting art exploring love, trauma and the female body.
Her Turner Prize nominated ‘My Bed’, the controversial work that catapulted her to fame in 1999, will of course feature. The famed installation, if you’re unfamiliar, is a dishevelled unmade bed topped with stained sheets and surrounded by an array of empty vodka bottles, condoms, underwear and pills. Emin created it following a dark four-day period of binge-drinking and smoking following a bad break up, but its rawness upset a lot of critics and it sparked a fierce debate over what really constitutes a work of art.
Another seminal work on display will be ‘Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made’ (1996), for which Emin locked herself in Stockholm’s Galleri Andreas Brändström for three weeks and forced herself to rekindle her relationship with painting after abandoning the practice for six years.
The expansive show will also include pieces from Emin’s first solo exhibition at White Cube in 1993, her video work ‘Why I Never Became A Dancer’ (1995) in which she recounts traumatic events from her teenage years in Margate and her wooden rollercoaster ‘It's Not the Way I Want to Die’ (2005), a reflection on her anxieties and vulnerabilities inspired by Margate’s Dreamland.
Emin said of the exhibition: ‘I’m very excited about having a show at Tate Modern. For me, it’s one of the greatest international contemporary art museums in the world and it’s here in London. I feel this show will be a bench mark for me. A moment in my life when I look back and go forward. A true celebration of living’.
Tracey Emin: A Second Life will be on at Tate Modern from February 27 until August 31. cost £20, but you can get them for £5 if you’re 16-25 and a member of the Tate Collective or for free is you’re a Tate Member.
🎨 See all of the 12 best art exhibitions coming to London in 2026 here, with Hockney, Renoir, Kahlo and more.
Did you see that a huge Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to London this summer?
Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.