Tracey Emin: 'My cousin died of Covid-19'

As she reveals a set of works made during lockdown, Emin describes the way the pandemic has changed her – and the artworld

In Tracey Emin’s intimate blue paintings of her life in lockdown we see her daydreaming and remembering, looking out of windows or at a familiar old sofa as the interior of her 18th-century house in London becomes a stage set for her private meditations. She depicts herself positively basking in isolation. Emin once said her favourite artist is Johannes Vermeer. The new paintings in her online White Cube exhibition, entitled I Thrive on Solitude, which has just launched, are domestic reveries in the tradition of Vermeer or, if you prefer a modernist comparison, Pierre Bonnard.

The show’s title is self-explanatory. But in a Zoom event to launch it, she revealed to the 40 invited guests exactly how perversely inspiring she has found the coronavirus lockdown. Appearing from her studio in leopard-print specs with a huge volcanic red painting behind her, she enthused about the experience of being socially distanced and how it has unleashed a new creative happiness.

Tracey Emin’s I Thrive on Solitude, White Cube online until 2 August.

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