One of the world's most famous artists is now in remission after undergoing cancer surgery.

Margate's Tracey Emin felt pain in her bladder - which was later found to be caused by a tumour - when she was working on a picture of a malignant lump in the spring.

And two months ago, she was given a stoma bag after she had many of her reproductive organs removed.

"The picture is exactly the same as my bladder with the tumor in it, before I knew I had the cancer - it’s brilliant," the 57-year-old told Artnet .

"I had cancer, and half my body chopped out, including half my vagina.

"They were going to remove my clitoris, but I stopped them. I said, ‘keep it if you can’—and they have."

The artist, who is best known for her pieces My Bed and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, revealed in the interview she was made to feel most frustrated by the fact she was not able to paint.

However, she added that she has been taking photographs of her body for a new project.

"Yesterday, I was crying because I wanted to paint and I didn’t have the energy to do it," she said.

"It feels like I only really got going in the last five years, that I started to understand what I am doing and what I am painting for."

While talking about the #MeToo movement, Ms Emin remarked that she wishes she "hadn’t been accused of being narcissistic" when she previously spoke out about her experiences of sexual abuse.

"Now, there is a language for women to express themselves thanks to #MeToo,” she said.

“It’s good that times are catching up, but I wish I hadn’t been accused of being narcissistic back then."

Ms Emins’s latest exhibition, Detail of Love, will open on Friday, October 30, in Brussels.

It will feature a collection of drawings she created in lockdown and 25 paintings made in the last year.

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