Tracy Emin // Lover’s Grave

Tracey Emin, There was blood, 2022. Acrylic on canvas. 205.5 x 279.5 cm | 80 7/8 x 110 1/16 in. 207.2 x 281.2 x 5.8 cm | 81 9/16 x 110 11/16 x 2 5/16 in. (framed).

It’s clear from the violent brushstrokes of the red acrylic paint that Tracy Emin created the work in her exhibition, Lovers Grave, while going through immense pain. That pain was treatment for bladder cancer, including a very invasive surgery that took her uterus and part of her vagina. At the same time, she was having a passionate love affair. So, when one looks at the work in her show at White Cube (Madison Ave), one sees both pain and passionate love making. The two themes combined are reminiscent of labor and birth, an experience that is both beautiful and (hopefully) full of love, and yet very traumatic and bloody. The title Lovers Grave comes from her study of archaeological burial sites where people were found holding each other when they died. Thus, the exhibition shows the everlasting power of love, even through the toughest of times.