Tate Modern Announces 'A Second Life,' the Largest Tracey Emin Survey to Date
“I feel this show…will be a benchmark for me. A moment in my life when I look back and go forward. A true celebration of living.”
Summary
- Tracey Emin will open her largest-ever exhibition at Tate Modern from February 26 through August 30, 2026
- A Second Life features over 90 works from her over four-decade-long practice, spanning video, sculpture, painting, installation and neon
- The exhibition focuses in on Emin’s raw approach to self-expression and the body, alongside her confessional artworks that reshaped the idea autobiography in the contemporary art landscape
Tate Modern has just announced the opening of A Second Life, the largest-ever exhibition dedicated to the genius of Tracey Emin. Running from February 26 through August 30, 2026, the show brings together over 90 works, from her most notable works to never-before-seen pieces, shining a light on the voice that changed autobiography in art forever.
Lauded for her confessional work and unapologetic approach to self-expression, Emin first gained traction in the 1990s in the wake of the legendary Young British Artists. The forthcoming presentation will draw a multi-medium showcase from four decades of artistic practice, tracing Emin’s “first” and second life, post illness and surgery, and the profound expressions of honesty, vulnerability and intimacy threaded through them both.
The exhibition will focus on two key pieces: the three-week performance, “Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made” (1996), and the Turner Prize-nominated installation “My Bed” (1998). Additional standouts delve into ideas memory, place and her longstanding connection to Margate, where she now resides and runs her own artist residency.
Following her 2020 bladder cancer diagnosis, Emin has kept candid in her exploration of survival and the body as a site for passion and pain. A Second Life will also feature be her 2024 work, “Ascension,” which explores her relationship with her body after undergoing numerous surgeries, alongside stills from a new documentary, making intimate the realities of illness and healing.
In a recent press statement, Emin wrote: “I feel this show…will be a benchmark for me. A moment in my life when I look back and go forward. A true celebration of living.”
For more information on the exhibition, and how to purchase tickets, head to the museum’s website.
Tate Modern
Bankside,
London SE1 9TG, UK
