Tracey Emins Bed sells at auction for over £2.5 million

Tracey Emins most famous installation My Bed sold at Christies for over £2.54 million yesterday. The piece documents Emins traumatic relationship breakdown, she spent four days and nights in the bed, in turmoil over losing the man she was so in love with. The unconventional self-portrait features Emins actual bed, stained sheets, blood-soaked underwear, discarded condoms and alcohol bottles.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 didnt 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?.Over seen be auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen, the sale opened at £650,000 and, as the bids came in thick and fast, the tension in the auction room was palpable until Emins seminal artwork eventually went for over double the estimate at £2.54m to Jay Jopling, the art dealer and founder of the White Cube gallery. As the winning bid was announced, Emin smiled and applauded. It is as yet unclear what Jopling will do with his new artwork.