Book cover for My Heart Is This: Tracey Emin on Painting by Martin Gayford

My Heart Is This

Tracey Emin on Painting

2026 Released
256 Pages
4-6 Hours
Ebook Unavailable
Audiobook Unavailable
Paperback Unavailable
Thames & HudsonISBN 9780500031018

Known for her raw and irreverent artwork, Tracey Emin is one of the most widely admired artists working today. In a vivid and intimate portrait of her life and work, in her own words through conversation with author and art critic Martin Gayford, Tracey Emin reflects on painting--how she approaches it, why it matters to her, and how it connects to her life--and how everything has changed since her cancer diagnosis four years ago.

Richly illustrated with photographs of the artist and her work, this book is a beautifully captured record of Tracey Emin about her inspirations, her working environment, and her relationship with other artists from the past and present.

"Drawing is an extension of the soul. You have a vision in your mind, then it comes through your hand, out onto the paper, and back into your mind again. It's a very good therapeutic exercise. It's quite cleansing. There's alchemy involved."

Offering a uniquely personal insight into the artist's extraordinary life and career, Emin expresses herself in her characteristically frank confessional style that is so familiar to anyone who has seen her paintings. This is Tracey Emin on her own terms: on learning to paint, how to live her life after cancer, and relearning why painting matters above everything else.

Martin Gayford

Martin Gayford is art critic for The Spectator and the author of acclaimed books on Van Gogh, Constable, and Michelangelo. He is the author of My Heart Is This: Tracey Emin on Painting, A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney, Venice: City of Pictures, The World According to David Hockney, among others.

More by Martin Gayford

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