My Bed
- Artist: Tracey Emin
- Date: 1998
- Medium: Box frame, mattress, linens, pillows and various objects
- Dimensions: Overall display dimensions variable
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “My Bed” by Tracey Emin. Created in 1998, the piece is a stark, almost brutal confession. The artist arranged her own bed—mattress, linens, pillows—alongside a jumble of personal items: a broken bottle, a half‑drunk glass of vodka, a stack of crumpled newspapers, a belt, a razor, and even a dog toy. The scene feels like a snapshot of a chaotic night in an artist’s life, laid bare for the viewer to feel the intimacy and vulnerability. By turning her own bedroom into an installation, Emin turns the everyday into an artwork that confronts themes of loneliness, addiction, and the rawness of memory. It’s a hallmark of the Young British Artists movement, where shock and honesty were prized. The piece invites you to step inside and reflect on how ordinary objects can carry extraordinary emotional weight.
See it in person
My Bed is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
