Dame Tracey Emin shot to fame in the late 1990s after ‘My Bed’ was one of the biggest talking points of modern art at the time — but now she says it would be very different
Artist Tracey Emin has admitted her controversial artwork My Bed would be “tidy,” “clean” and “boring” if she made it today. It comes as she has opened up on how the piece affected her, admitting she nearly died on the bed that inspired her artwork.
Dame Tracey sparked a media frenzy in 1998 when she put her filthy bed on display, scattered with booze, cigarettes, soiled knickers and used condoms. It was nominated for the Turner Prize and eventually sold for more than £2.5million.
It is now back on show at London’s Tate Modern gallery, as part of a major new exhibition. But speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Tracey revealed a modern version would be pretty underwhelming.
Asked what would be next to her bed today, she said: “My two cats, maybe a few love letters. And it would be ridiculously clean, with very, very beautiful sheets, very clean and very tidy. It would be so boring, actually.”
The Londoner, 62, said her sheets would now have a “1,600 thread count” — a mark of high quality. She called a luxurious lifestyle her “reward” for having lived through tough times as a younger woman.
The original ‘sculpture’ was inspired by a highly-sexed, but depressive phase when she stayed in bed for four days without eating or drinking anything but alcohol. Dame Tracey explained that she holds incredibly close memories with the bed as it helped to save her from the depths of depression.
She said: “I nearly lost my life in that bed. That bed kept me alive. It’s not an affectation, it’s a real thing.
“When I got up from that bed and looked at it, what I saw, I was disgusted and repulsed at the fact that I’d been laying in it. And then I realised that I shouldn’t be because it had been holding me and keeping me alive.”
Tracey shot to fame in the 1990s as one of the Young British Artists (YBAs), alongside the likes of Damian Hirst and Sarah Lucas. She was honoured with a damehood in 2024 for services to British art.
Around the same time, she was given the four-year “all clear” from aggressive bladder cancer. Dame Tracey said: “I feel now a duty to say a lot of things out loud, a lot, and to be fearless about it as well.
“Because I think when you face death like that… you’re told that you’ve possibly got six months to live, you start thinking about your life.” She has called smoking heavily her number one regret, as well has the “amount of sex” she had with older men.
* Watch Dame Tracey’s full interview on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One tomorrow (March 1) at 9am.
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