Prolific, high-profile, and controversial, Tracey Emin has been at the forefront of fine art in Britain since her emergence as a member of the Young British Artist group in the late 1990s. In Tracey Emin: 20 Years, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery mounts a major retrospective of Emin's body of work. Whether you love Emin or hate her, the exhibit is a great success.

Emin is criticised and praised in equal measure for the autobiographical, personal nature of her work. A retrospective, therefore, is the perfect format to showcase her art in its full glory. Curator Patrick Elliot does not suffer from lack of material, and 20 Years is amply stocked with works from all stages of Emin's career. There is plenty from Emin's most well-known period, including her most famous installation, My Bed. However, Emin's early work is also featured, and some of her most recent paintings and tapestries. Travelling around the exhibition is a thought-provoking journey for the viewer. We are led from the intimate, raw drawings dealing with Emin's bleak childhood and two abortions, through the height of her commercial fame and finally through to Emin at her most mature, although no less sexual or personal. Throughout the exhibition we are carried by the strong narrative thread of Emin's work; her handwriting, notation and description appear on almost every work.

Highlights of the exhibition include There's a Lot of Money in Chairs, in which Emin has taken a small armchair and sewn appliquéd words into it relating to her family and her beloved grandmother. It is a touching momento made all the more bittersweet for being displayed after works which describe Emin's childhood experiences of rape and death. Another moving piece is the video Why I Never Became a Dancer, in which the camera travels through Emin's childhood neighbourhood while her voiceover describes a particular harrowing incident at a dance competition. The video ends with a triumphant sequence of Emin dancing exuberantly in her studio as an adult.

Tracey Emin: 20 Years is a wonderfully structured and beautifully displayed look at one of Britain's most thought-provoking contemporary artists. Whatever opinions you may form during the journey, this is far from a road to nowhere.