If you were to guess where Madonna goes on holiday, you might think Mustique or the Maldives – Margate probably would not make the list.
But the pop superstar spent the weekend there and enthused in an Instagram post that “the whole town seems to be inhabited and energised by creativity”, and that “whenever I go there, I feel like I’ve entered a dream”.
Madonna shared photos of herself with Tracey Emin alongside the artist’s work in her studio, writing: “Dame Tracey Emin is a Pearl. A precious necklace that has been draped around a seaside Town in England called Margate.”
She said she had known Emin for more than 25 years and was a fan of “her extremely personal and provocative work”, and she praised her for creating a “remarkable” artist residency programme at TKE Studios, which invites young artists from around the world to stay and paint for several month-long stints.
She said these artists “would have no place to paint and develop their talent and be a part of the many exhibitions that happen around Margate”.
Margate has been transformed in recent years as a result of an influx of artists, musicians and celebrities. Photograph: Phillip Roberts Photography/Alamy
“I’ve been there a few times now and I’m always struck by the commitment and passion of all of these artists. Hungry, possessed, and extremely grateful to have this opportunity. They all have very touching stories to share and honestly it’s so refreshing to witness them working in such a dedicated way,” Madonna wrote.
As well as calling the local community of writers and performance artists, photographers and painters “my idea of heaven”, she shared her love for a local Italian restaurant, which “I’m not giving anyone the name of because then everyone’s going to go there and it only has one table,” she said. Local people have speculated she was referring to Bottega Caruso.
In October, Isle of Thanet News reported that the singer had been spotted at the Carl Freedman Gallery and Emin’s TKE Studios and that she ate in the family-run restaurant, which has a single long sharing table for diners to sit at.
The Sun reported that Madonna was spotted last weekend attending the grassroots arts festival Off Season, which takes place in art studios and warehouses across the town.
Madonna is not Emin’s first celebrity visitor: in August the actor and singer Gina Gershon, who has starred in Cocktail, Showgirls, Face/Off and High Rollers, joined the artist at Margate Pride.
The once-struggling seaside town has been transformed in recent years as a result of an influx of artists, musicians and celebrities – although it still retains pockets of deprivation, with some neighbourhoods ranking among the poorest in the UK. Many longer-term residents have been frustrated to find they are increasingly priced out of the local housing market by the town’s gentrification.
The opening of the Turner Contemporary sparked interest in the town’s creative credentials, while its moniker as “Shoreditch-on-Sea” was cemented when the former Libertines singer Pete Doherty opened a hotel, the Albion Rooms, in 2017. Doherty left Margate in 2020, though he returned to captain Margate FC in a friendly in 2025.
The Crown star Emma Corrin is another famous local resident, while Lily Allen, Sam Mendes and Olivia Colman have all been spotted perusing the town’s sandy shores and streets lined with coffee shops, art galleries and independent restaurants.
In 2023, Pedro Pascal, the star of The Last of Us, was spotted with the art podcasters Robert Diament and Russell Tovey at the Rhodes Gallery to see an exhibition dedicated to him, only to find it closed. The trio took a selfie captioned “Margate art friends reunited”.