Damien Hirst no longer the force he was, says Emin but women just carry on

Dame Tracey Emin has said that most male artists including her contemporary Damien Hirst are less of a creative "force" after they reach their 40s.

- Nadia Khomami

Both artists have been Turner prize nominees, with Hirst winning the award in 1995, with his formaldehyde-preserved cow and calf, called Mother and Child (Divided), the focal piece of his exhibition that year.

But Emin, who rose to prominence with her headline-grabbing 90s works including Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 and My Bed, said her fellow YBA was no longer what he used to be.

"I think it's really hard to be an artist. I think it's really difficult," she told Spotify's The Louis Theroux Podcast. "I think people who don't make art or don't attempt to be an artist, don't understand how difficult it is to have that conviction, that self-belief and everything.

“Damien was a young artist that started off with a lot of that belief and a lot of that conviction. He was like a force. And now he's not.”

Emin, now 61, added that men "sort of peak in their 40s", while “women just tend to come and come and come and come and come, so as a woman, you carry on coming all your life until you're old”.