| My Bed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Tracey Emin |
| Year | 1998 |
| Medium | Found happening |
| Movement | Postmodernism |
| Subject | Depression,surrealism, originality, conceptualism |
My Bed is a sculpture by the English artistTracey Emin. The work consists of her bed with bedroom objects in a disheveled state. First created in 1998, it was exhibited at theTate Gallery in 1999 as one of the shortlisted works for theTurner Prize.[1] Although it did not win the prize, it gained much media attention and its notoriety has persisted. It was sold at auction byChristie’s in July 2014 for £2,546,500.
The idea forMy Bed was inspired by a sexual yet depressive phase in Emin's life when she had remained in bed for four days without eating or drinking anything but alcohol.[2] Emin ardently defendedMy Bed against critics who treated it as a farce and claimed that anyone could exhibit an unmade bed. To these claims, she retorted, "Well, they didn't, did they? No one had ever done that before."[2]
The artwork generated considerable media furore,[3] particularly over the fact that the bedsheets were stained with bodily secretions and the floor had items from the artist's room, such as condoms, underwear with menstrual blood stains, other detritus, and functional, everyday objects, including a pair of slippers. The bed was presented in the state that Emin claimed it had been after languishing in it for several days; at the time she was suffering suicidal depression brought on by relationship difficulties.
Twoperformance artists,Yuan Cai and Jian Jun Xi, jumped on the bed with bare torsos to improve the work, which they thought had not gone far enough. They called their performanceTwo Naked Men Jump into Tracey's Bed. The men also had apillow fight[1] on the bed for around fifteen minutes, to applause from the crowd, before being removed by security guards. The artists were detained but no further action was taken.[3] Prior to its Tate Gallery showing, the work had appeared elsewhere, including Japan, where there were variant surroundings, including at one stage a hangman's noose hanging over the bed. This was not present when it was displayed at the Tate.[4]
Craig Brown wrote a satirical piece aboutMy Bed forPrivate Eye entitledMy Turd.[5] Emin's former boyfriend, formerStuckist artistBilly Childish, stated that he also had an old bed of hers in the shed which he would make available for £20,000.[6]
My Bed was bought byCharles Saatchi for £150,000 and displayed as part of the first exhibition when theSaatchi Gallery opened its new premises atCounty Hall, London (which it has now vacated). Saatchi also installed the bed in a dedicated room in his own home.[3]
When it was announced, in May 2014, that the work was to be auctioned,David Maupin, Emin's dealer in New York, described the £800,000 – £1.2 million estimate as too low.[7] When auctioned byChristie's in July 2014, the piece was sold for a little over £2.5 million.[8]