Tracey Emin's 7-Meter Bronze Sculpture 'La Madre' to Grace Oslo's Museum Island

Tracey Emin has won a competition to create a permanent public sculpture for Oslo's Museum Island, adjacent to the new Munch Museum. The 7-meter bronze work, titled 'La Madre', depicts a kneeling female figure with open legs, cradling an invisible object, facing the Oslo Fjord. The jury praised the work as intimate yet majestic, vulnerable and grand, noting its feminist statement as a non-idealized female nude by a woman artist, evoking Munch's motifs. Emin, known for scandalous works like 'My Bed', shifts the focus from male heroic sculpture to matriarchal contemplation. The project is part of Oslo's public art program, which reserved funds for an artwork at the new Museum Island. The island will connect to the museum and harbor promenade, opening in 2020 alongside a new public library. Emin's sculpture was selected unanimously from seven international proposals.