Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch The Loneliness of the Soul Exhibition Review

When: 18 May – 1 August 2021

Where: Royal Academy of Arts

Image: @royalacademyarts

In her latest exhibition, The Loneliness of the Soul, Emin brings together a collection of 25 of her own pieces in her typical confessional style, creating an intimate dialogue between artist and viewer. Alongside her own work stand 18 watercolour and oil paintings by Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch, a tribute to an artist who has had a significant impact on Emin’s own work and who similarly was adept at transforming painful experiences into masterpieces.

Emin’s love story with Munch started at an early age, after stumbling across his work whilst researching fellow expressionist Egon Schiele. Having fallen in love with the man himself and his work, Emin’s work is heavily littered with references to Munch’s style, themes and in particular, his fascination with the female form. However, as Emin points out in an interview with British GQ Editor Dylan Jones, her gaze over the female form is different, in that she herself is the model for her work.

A compelling exhibition exploring vulnerability, the fragility of human emotion and the female form, the collection captures the similarities between the artist’s style, not only in subject matter but in form, reconciling Emin’s claim that the two are ‘kindred souls’. On display, Munch’s Crouching Nude depicts a figure, balled up with a fixed gaze of sadness. In a sinister reimagining of the work Emin’s You Kept it Coming portrays a figure similarly crouched over, with a shadowed figure ominously hovering above, capturing the pain and trauma that resonates throughout her work.

Relaunching after the UK’s third national lockdown, the exhibition was due to open in October 2020. Themes of loneliness and vulnerability are felt more acutely, set against the backdrop of a pandemic that has caused many to endure suffering and loss, whether that be through separation from friends or family or the death of a loved one. The exhibition can also be viewed in the context of the recent news that Emin had undergone a drastic surgery following her diagnosis with an aggressive form of cancer, adding to the intensity and the visceral feelings captured throughout the collection. Highly visceral and deeply dark, The Loneliness of the Soul captures the depths of despair and trauma and is a unique tribute to Munch’s style.

The exhibition is now closed but you can enjoy a free virtual tour here. Alternatively, the exhibition is moving to the Munch Museum next year in Oslo.

Words by Emma Chadwick