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Nearly three decades after its creation, Tracey Emin’s iconic installation My Bed is set to return to London’s Tate Modern in spring 2026 for a major exhibition. But the question remains: does this once-scandalous artwork still have the same power to shock audiences as it did in the late 1990s?

From Christie’s Auction to Tate Modern

In 2014, My Bed sold at Christie’s for just over £2.5 million to Count Christian Duerckheim, who generously loaned the piece to the Tate for ten years. Since then, the work has toured Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, and Turner Contemporary in Emin’s hometown of Margate. Now, it is scheduled to return to the Tate Modern as a centrepiece of Emin’s large-scale exhibition running through spring and summer 2026.

When My Bed was first exhibited in 1999, Emin had been nominated for the Turner Prize, sparking national debate and public outcry. Newspapers decried it as “not real art,” while others hailed it as a brutally honest self-portrait. Today, however, its reception is far less explosive.

The Story Behind My Bed

Created in Emin’s Waterloo flat in 1998, My Bed was born from four days of depression following a relationship breakdown. When she finally rose from her bed, the scene before her — crumpled sheets, empty vodka bottles, stained underwear, cigarette butts, used condoms, and personal photographs — became the raw material of the installation.

Far from a mere shock tactic, the work is a deeply autobiographical piece. It captures the destructive lifestyle Emin was living at the time, shaped by a traumatic childhood, sexual abuse, and personal struggles with relationships and substance use. She described the work as “a snapshot in time” — an unfiltered diary of despair, vulnerability, and survival.

From Young British Artist to Global Icon

By the time of her Turner Prize nomination, Emin was already a leading figure among the Young British Artists (YBAs), gaining attention for provocative works such as Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, featured in Charles Saatchi’s controversial Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1997.

But Emin today is no longer the same artist she was in the 1990s. Now in her 60s, she has transformed her career and life. She owns a four-storey studio, employs a dedicated team, and has left behind many of the destructive habits that once defined her. Even the objects in My Bed — old brands, obsolete contraception, clothes that no longer fit, and tampons she no longer needs — reflect a different era.

Does My Bed Still Shock Audiences?

The raw impact of My Bed in 1999 came from its immediacy: an unfiltered window into an artist’s most private chaos, placed at the heart of a respected gallery. Today, society is far more accustomed to confessional art, reality TV, and social media oversharing. The shock has inevitably mellowed.

Yet this does not diminish its importance. Instead, My Bed stands as a powerful marker in contemporary art history — a work that redefined what could be considered art and opened the door for more intimate, autobiographical narratives in the gallery space.

As My Bed returns to Tate Modern in 2026, audiences may no longer gasp in outrage, but they will witness a work that remains raw, moving, and profoundly human. Its power now lies less in shock and more in its enduring honesty.

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