Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin (born 1963, London) is a British artist known for her deeply personal and expressive work. Associated with the Young British Artists (YBAs) in the 1990s, she became widely known for confronting themes like sexuality, trauma, love, and identity through a confessional artistic style. Emin works across a range of media, including installation, drawing, painting, neon, and sculpture. She studied at the Royal College of Art and was elected a Royal Academician in 2007. In 2024, she was made a Dame for services to art.

Her best-known piece, My Bed (1998), featured her actual unmade bed surrounded by personal items, and was nominated for the Turner Prize. Other standout works include Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 (destroyed in 2004), and a series of neon text works that blend poetry and visual art.

Emin’s works are highly collectable and have performed strongly at auction. My Bed sold for £2.5 million at Christie’s in 2014, and her paintings regularly achieve over £1 million. Her neon works and editioned prints are also popular with collectors, often priced between £5,000 and £20,000 depending on rarity and scale.

Emin remains a vital figure in contemporary art. Through both her art and her foundation, she continues to inspire a new generation of artists while maintaining a strong presence in the international art market.