2012 he opened his newest venture in São Paolo with a solo exhibition by
Emin.
Before the auction, Emin said the selling of the piece felt like "the end of
an era. Saatchi's had this 90s thing in his house like a time capsule. Now
it's historical." The artist said her hope was that the piece would be bought
by a benefactor who would donate it to a museum and keep it on public
display. It is unclear what Jopling will do with the artwork.
Emin's bed was first shown in Tokyo, where the Japanese customs
attempted to destroy it as it arrived in the country, and then in New York.
After being nominated for the 1999 Turner prize, and causing a
subsequent media frenzy, it caused visitor numbers to Tate Britain to hit
a record high and was the piece that put Emin at the heart of the YBAs .
Describing her original inspiration for the work, Emin said: "Well I spent
four days in bed. And I was feeling at a very low ebb. And, for two of those
four days I was asleep and I didn't wake up.
"It was about the breakup of a relationship with someone I was really in
love with. And it was also about my own sort of desperation; it was very
romantic in lots of ways. It was almost like a 19th-century bohemian,
'have you ever half-lived?'.
"It's very romantic, what I was feeling was the saddest kind of
romanticism that anybody could ever imagine. I could have written a
broken-hearted love story at the same time, and I did, with the bed."
It was the work, she added, that had changed her life: "I think about the
bed almost every day when I make my own bed. I'll always be grateful for
the bed. And if I could show the bed in my next show and my next show
and my next show, I would. Because I think the bed will forever stand up
to time."
Emin's bed is one of 50 modern artworks and installations being sold by
Saatchi this year, as part of a major clearout of his collection.
In 2010, Saatchi offered 200 works from his collection, including My
Bed, to the nation free of charge if his Chelsea gallery could be given
museum status, but the offer was declined.