Tracey Emin is one of Britain’s best-known contemporary artists, and her work often feels deeply personal and honest. She turns experiences from her own life into paintings, drawings, sculptures, textiles, films and installations that explore love, heartbreak, memory, loss, desire and the human body. Her art can feel emotional because it speaks about subjects that many people experience in their own lives. In 2026, interest in her work remains strong after her major A Second Life exhibition at Tate Modern. Although the London show has closed, the exhibition continues in Denmark, while White Cube Paris presents new work later this year.
2026 Exhibition Dates and Locations
The major 2026 programme began with Tracey Emin: A Second Life at Tate Modern in London. The exhibition ran from 27 February to 31 August 2026 and presented around four decades of Emin’s artistic practice. It brought together important earlier works with more recent material, giving visitors an opportunity to see how her ideas and artistic language have developed over time. The exhibition focused particularly on the female body and its relationship with passion, pain and healing.
Although the Tate Modern presentation has now closed, A Second Life continues at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark. The Danish presentation runs from 8 October 2026 until 18 April 2027. The museum describes the exhibition as a broad presentation of Emin’s practice, bringing together painting, drawing, sculpture, textile, film and installation. This makes the Danish show particularly useful for visitors who want to understand the range of her work rather than concentrating on one medium.
There is also a separate presentation at White Cube Paris later in 2026. I will miss you Yesterday I will miss you Today I will miss you Tomorrow And that’s how it will Always be runs from 20 October to 18 December 2026. The exhibition brings together new paintings and intimate bronze sculptures and explores desire, forbidden love and the emotional complexity surrounding those experiences. It therefore offers a different perspective from the larger survey presented at Tate Modern and Louisiana.
Tate Modern Exhibition and Major Works
The Tate Modern exhibition, A Second Life, was significant because it looked across almost 40 years of Emin’s career. Rather than presenting her work as a collection of isolated pieces, the exhibition showed connections between different periods of her practice. Painting received particular attention, with recent works presented as an important culmination of her long relationship with the medium. Earlier and previously unexhibited material also helped create a broader picture of her development as an artist.
Visitors familiar with Emin will also recognise the importance of works such as My Bed, created in 1998. The piece became one of her best-known works and reflects her willingness to use intimate personal material within a gallery setting. Her wider practice includes drawings, paintings, sculpture, textiles, film, installation, photography, neon and writing. This variety helps explain why her exhibitions can feel very different from one room to another while still maintaining a strong autobiographical thread.
The artist’s approach often places personal experience at the centre of the work. Memories, relationships, loss, vulnerability and physical experience become subjects rather than details hidden behind an abstract artistic concept. This directness has helped Emin establish a distinctive position in contemporary British art. The Tate presentation therefore offered more than a selection of famous works; it showed how recurring ideas have changed as the artist’s life and practice have developed.
London, Margate and Emin’s Artistic Background
London has played an important role in Emin’s career, but Margate is equally important to understanding her artistic identity. Her official biography describes Margate as an abiding subject, with places and memories connected to the seafront, pier, huts, tide markers and Dreamland appearing in different forms throughout her work. These locations can operate as personal memories as well as recognisable elements of a particular coastal landscape.
Some of the places and influences connected with her artistic background include:
- Margate seafront: A recurring source of memories and visual inspiration.
- Dreamland: A familiar Margate landmark connected with Emin’s early experiences.
- The pier and coastal landscape: Elements that appear within her wider artistic story.
- TKE Studios: An important creative space associated with her work in Margate.
- Tracey Emin Artist Residency: A project supporting artistic activity and emerging artists.
Emin was born in 1963 and has developed a practice strongly connected with autobiography and self-representation. Her work often draws on family, childhood and her teenage years in Margate, turning experiences from different stages of life into visual material. She works across several forms, allowing an idea to become a painting, drawing, sculpture, textile, film or installation depending on what best communicates the subject.
Her connection with Margate has also continued through artistic activity outside individual artworks. She has established TKE Studios and the Tracey Emin Artist Residency, known as TEAR, in the town. These projects add another dimension to her relationship with the place where she grew up. For audiences interested in her biography, Margate can therefore provide useful context for understanding recurring ideas of memory, home, identity and place.
Themes, Painting, Sculpture and the Female Body
The human body is one of the strongest recurring subjects in Emin’s work. Her figures can communicate vulnerability, desire, intimacy, pain and resilience without requiring a conventional narrative. White Cube describes the female body as a powerful vehicle for exploring passion, pain and healing in A Second Life. This approach connects her paintings and sculptures with broader questions about how people experience their bodies and emotions.
Painting has become increasingly important within Emin’s later practice. Her expressive brushwork can make a figure appear immediate and emotionally exposed, while the simplicity of a composition can leave room for viewers to respond personally. Her sculptures approach similar ideas through physical form. Bronze figures can suggest movement, vulnerability or endurance, creating a different relationship between the viewer and the subject than a two-dimensional painting can provide.
Her use of different materials also allows the same emotional concerns to appear in changing forms. Textiles can carry associations with domestic life and memory, while installation can turn an entire space into part of the artwork. Film and writing can introduce voice, movement and language. This mixture of media is one reason her exhibitions can feel varied while remaining connected by recurring concerns about love, loss, desire, memory and the body.
Current Paris and Denmark Exhibitions
The Louisiana Museum presentation provides the next major opportunity to see A Second Life after its London run. From 8 October 2026 to 18 April 2027, visitors in Denmark can explore a survey covering almost 40 years of Emin’s practice. Louisiana states that the exhibition includes painting, drawing, sculpture, textile, film and installation, including works that have not previously been shown.
White Cube Paris provides a different experience because its late-2026 presentation concentrates on new paintings and intimate bronze sculptures. Running from 20 October to 18 December, the show explores desire, forbidden love and the emotional difficulties connected with those themes. White Cube also notes autobiographical elements involving figures, Emin’s home in Margate and experiences of loss, giving the exhibition a strong connection with her personal artistic language.
Paris will also feature three large-scale bronze sculptures by Emin at the Parvis des Droits-de-l’Homme from 14 October to 1 November 2026. The works are I lay here for you (2018), I Followed You to the End (2024) and I Will Not Be Alone (2025). White Cube says the three sculptures explore the transformation of the female body, moving from kneeling towards a seated position and suggesting a journey from surrender towards resilience.
(FAQs)
Where is the Tracey Emin exhibition in 2026?
A Second Life is at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark from 8 October 2026 to 18 April 2027.A separate exhibition runs at White Cube Paris from 20 October to 18 December 2026.
What was Tracey Emin’s Tate Modern exhibition called?
The 2026 Tate Modern show was called Tracey Emin: A Second Life.It ran from 27 February to 31 August 2026.
Where does Tracey Emin live?
Tracey Emin lives and works in Margate, London and France.Margate remains an important influence on her artistic work.
Does Tracey Emin have a partner?
Emin keeps details of her current romantic life private.
Her official biography does not identify a current partner.
What is Tracey Emin best known for?
She is best known for My Bed and her highly personal contemporary art.Her work includes painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, neon and installation.
Conclusion
Tracey Emin’s art feels powerful because it comes from real experiences, emotions and moments that many people can understand. Through paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations, she explores love, heartbreak, memory, loss, vulnerability and the changing body in an honest way. Her 2026 exhibition programme gives visitors another chance to follow how her work has developed over many years. While the Tate Modern show has now closed, A Second Life continues in Denmark, with new work also appearing at White Cube Paris. Her lasting connection with Margate adds another personal layer to her story, making Emin’s art interesting, emotional and worth exploring for many audiences.
