LONDON — Tracey Emin’s 1998 “My Bed,” which shows the crumpled, stained sheets of an unmade bed, littered with cigarette butts, condoms, underwear and empty vodka bottles, was described by the artist as representing a time in her life when she was severely depressed.
She must be feeling more cheerful, after “My Bed” sold for $4.3 million earlier this month, to a German collector, Count Christian Duerckheim, who, the BBC reported on Tuesday, is to loan the artwork to the Tate for a period of “at least” 10 years.
“My Bed,” created by Ms. Emin in 1998, caused a sensation when she exhibited it as her entry for the 1999 Turner Prize. Ms. Emin did not win the prize (that went to the little-known Steve McQueen), but the work made her instantly famous, and the piece was bought by Charles Saatchi for £150 000 ($254,729) in 2000.
Before “My Bed” was auctioned at Christie’s postwar and contemporary art sale on July 1, Ms. Emin told the BBC that she hoped a benefactor would buy it and donate it to a museum. The work sold for double the top estimate of £1.2 million ($2.04 million) to the art dealer Jay Jopling, bidding for Count Duerckheim, who described the piece as “a metaphor for life, where troubles begin and logics die.”
The director of the Tate, Nicholas Serota, said he was delighted with the loan of “My Bed,” which he described as “an important work” with “iconic status.”