Tracey Emin talks about painting: what it is, why she does it, why it matters.

Tracey Emin is one of the most widely admired artists working in Britain today. Richly illustrated with photographs of the artist and her art, here is a vivid and intimate portrait of her life and work in her own words, in conversation with art critic Martin Gayford. 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.

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 is a writer and art critic. His books include Michelangelo: His Epic Life (Penguin), as well as Man with a Blue Scarf (in which he recounts the experience of being painted by Freud), Modernists and Mavericks, Spring Cannot be Cancelled (with David Hockney), A History of Pictures (with David Hockney), Shaping the World (with Antony Gormley), Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud, 1939–1954 (with David Dawson) and Venice all published by Thames & Hudson.