Nine days before lockdown in London, a Tracey Emin retrospective opened at the Royal Academy. Emin thought it might be her last. She had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. “I’m in chronic pain,” she wrote in the aftermath of major surgery. “I swear to god that there’s not a single part of my body that doesn’t hurt.” During her stay in the hospital, Emin took photographs and kept records. While regaining her strength, she created jarring self-portraits that documented her suffering and recovery. Those drawings and paintings are on view in this exhibition. They may be her best work yet. —Elena Clavarino