--- title: Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' Returns to the Tate on Long-Term Loan description: The piece will be displayed there for at least 10 years canonical: https://time.com/3060115/tracey-emin-my-bed-tate/ author: Aleksandra Gjorgievska article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-30T19:40:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:25:37.993Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' Returns to the Tate on Long-Term Loan og:description: The piece will be displayed there for at least 10 years og:url: https://time.com/3060115/tracey-emin-my-bed-tate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt132289c023014b27/698699a106f2c1737432fafd/tracey-emin-my-bed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' To Be Auctioned At Christie's og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' Returns to the Tate on Long-Term Loan twitter:description: The piece will be displayed there for at least 10 years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt132289c023014b27/698699a106f2c1737432fafd/tracey-emin-my-bed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' Returns to the Tate on Long-Term Loan by [Aleksandra Gjorgievska](https://time.com/author/aleksandra-gjorgievska/) ## Aleksandra Gjorgievska Jul 30, 2014 7:40 PM UTC  Tracy Emin's 1998 piece My Bed on display at Christie's in London on June 27, 2014 Tracy Emin's 1998 piece My Bed on display at Christie's in London on June 27, 2014Rob Stothard—Getty Images by [Aleksandra Gjorgievska](https://time.com/author/aleksandra-gjorgievska/) ## Aleksandra Gjorgievska Jul 30, 2014 7:40 PM UTC Contemporary art’s most well-known bed is returning to the site where it first gained notoriety. Artist Tracey Emin’s controversial installation _My Bed_ — consisting of an unmade bed surrounded by piles of discarded condoms, old liquor bottles and pregnancy tests — will be exhibited at Tate Gallery on a long-term loan from its most recent owner, [the Tate said in a statement](http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/tracey-emin-my-bed) on Monday. The 1998 work, which grapples with the aftermath of a difficult breakup, has been included in discussions about what qualifies as art. It gained renewed prominence in the past month when it was slated to be sold at a Christie’s auction in London. On July 1, the piece was sold to German collector and businessman Count Christian Duerckheim for approximately $3.77 million — more than 18 times the amount collector Charles Saatchi paid for it in 2000. _My Bed_ was exhibited at Tate Britain in 1999, the same year it was shortlisted for the prestigious Turner Prize. Now, new owner Duerckheim will loan the work to the Tate for a period of at least 10 years. Tate director Nicholas Serota expressed [gratitude](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/29/us-art-britain-emin-idUSKBN0FY1S720140729) for Duerckheim’s gift, which will allow museum visitors to see “a work that now has iconic status.” Emin, the artist herself, [told the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28541568), “I have always felt _My Bed_ belongs at Tate. And now it will be.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3060115/tracey-emin-my-bed-tate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3060115/tracey-emin-my-bed-tate/"},"headline":"Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' Returns to the Tate on Long-Term Loan","datePublished":"2014-07-30T19:40:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:25:37.993Z","description":"The piece will be displayed there for at least 10 years","url":"https://time.com/3060115/tracey-emin-my-bed-tate/","keywords":["Art"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt132289c023014b27/698699a106f2c1737432fafd/tracey-emin-my-bed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aleksandra Gjorgievska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aleksandra-gjorgievska/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt132289c023014b27/698699a106f2c1737432fafd/tracey-emin-my-bed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' To Be Auctioned At Christie's","caption":"Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' To Be Auctioned At Christie's","creditText":"Rob Stothard—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/art/","name":"Art"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3060115/tracey-emin-my-bed-tate/","name":"Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' Returns to the Tate on Long-Term Loan"}}]}] ```