A rusty bathtub with a tatty Union Jack inside, a mattress with a tree branch on top and some risque scribbles on the wall.

It could only be a new art installation by Tracey Emin.

The controversial artist wrote a personal letter sent to thousands of households inviting them to her exhibition – She Lay Down Beneath The Sea – at the Turner Contemporary Gallery in her home town of Margate, Kent.

It features an eclectic range of drawings, sculptures, tapestries, embroideries, monoprints and neons on themes including love, sex and eroticism.

But despite her raunchy artistic past, Tracey revealed this show does not have the “shock factor”.

“Sex doesn’t fit into art, sex fits into life,” she said. “It’s part of life.

“My work is not about sex or eroticism really, it’s about the end of all that.

“It’s about being a woman, being 50 and saying goodbye to those things and understanding that I’ve got to move on and life has to change.”

Tatty: Bath tub with Union Jack (
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Getty)
Exhibition: A visitor walks past an installation entitled 'Dead Sea' by Tracey Emin (
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Getty)
Bit deep: Visitor at preview looks at installation entitled 'The Vanishing Lake' (
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Getty)

She added: "I'm really nervous as I want people to like my work and like my show."

Asked whether she felt more relaxed as an artist now, she said: "It's not about being relaxed but it's more about being at ease with myself and what I can do.

"I feel like I'm growing into my work more, I'm enjoying it and understanding it. I'm nearly 50, and I'm making things that I really want to see, so that's a sign of maturity."

The new exhibition is part of the London 2012 Festival, a 12-week nationwide celebration running from June 21 to September 9 bringing together leading artists from across the globe with the best from the UK.

And for Emin, her pieces will be pitted against the erotic works of JMW Turner and Auguste Rodin, whose famous sculpture The Kiss is on show at Turner Contemporary's Sunley Gallery.

Emin will also be taking her place in the Olympic history books by running as a torchbearer through Margate on July 19.

The exhibition opens tomorrow.