Tracey Emin is working like a demon!” she says, a smile erupting into laughter. And today that laughter never seems far away. “I have never been happier or more content,” she declares.

Yes, it’s Tracey within her paintings. But at the same time … you could see yourself in the painting. You could see your mother in that painting. You could see your daughter in that painting.” ...

She initially used her own savings to acquire the properties in Margate, then created the Tracey Emin Foundation. In 2022, she sold a painting, Like a Cloud of Blood, to build its endowment.

I caught two shows last week — Dana Schutz’s and Tracey Emin’s — that represent the two extremes. Schutz, who’s now 47, is our leading painter of oil-on-canvas allegories.

Tracey Emin in the office of her studio in Margate with a painting in progress. She has helped to create a locus for artists with subsidized studios and an art residency program.

When Covid-19 brought the art world to a standstill in the spring, shutting down galleries and museums worldwide, Tracey Emin, one of Britain’s most famous living artists, was already upending ...