Name: Feeling Safe
Brand: Tracey Emin
Rating: 5 (233 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Tracey Emin’s Feeling Safe (signed) is estimated to be worth between £1,750 and £2,650. This etching print from 2012 has shown a consistent value growth since its first sale in January 2019. Over the past 12 months, there have been no sales, however, in the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £950 in July 2020 to £1,613 in September 2022. The artwork demonstrates an average annual growth rate of -8%. This work is part of a limited edition of 120.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

September 2022

Sotheby's Online

United Kingdom

July 2020

Rosebery's Fine Art Auctioneers

United Kingdom

September 2019

Sotheby's London

United Kingdom

January 2019

Forum Auctions London

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

This touching etching was created by Tracey Emin in 2012 and forms part of the Animals collection. At the centre of a white paper background there is a simply rendered pair of white doves, with a cloudy transfer of ink about them. To the right of this central pair, the head of another dove looms above, watching in on the lovebirds.

Emin, the 'enfant terrible' of the Young British Artists group, has been celebrated for her controversial practice, mingling her wry humour with often sexually energetic subject matter. However, as Emin herself and her career have matured, the artist has become increasingly spiritual and interested more so in romantic intimacy over lust.

Feeling Safe eloquently signals the artist’s emotional maturity and understanding of self. The two lovebirds at the centre of the composition are being watched over by a ghostly dove behind them, perhaps part of the reason the work is titled Feeling Safe. Like many of her works with animals as their subject, Emin uses the birds to reveal something of the human condition. As she reveals in this charming print, the longing for intimacy and partnership is something common across the animal kingdom.