Spider
1997 · Steel and mixed media · 449 × 665 cm
Femme Maison
1947 · Oil and ink on linen · 91 × 36 cm
Destruction of the Father
1974 · Plaster, latex, wood, fabric, red light · 238 × 363 cm
Cell (Eyes and Mirrors)
1989 · Steel, limestone, glass, mirrors, wood · 236 × 211 cm
Maman
1999 · Bronze, stainless steel, and marble · 927 × 891 cm
Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) was a French-American artist celebrated for her monumental sculptures and deeply personal installations exploring memory, trauma, and the body. She is best known for her giant spider sculptures titled Maman. Working across seven decades, she became one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, achieving her greatest recognition after age 70.
Her most iconic works include Maman (1999), a 30-foot-tall bronze spider sculpture installed at the Tate Modern and other locations worldwide; the Cells series (1991–2008), room-sized installations exploring memory and pain; Destruction of the Father (1974); and the Femme Maison paintings (1946–1947). Maman has become one of the most recognizable sculptures in the world.
Bourgeois created her spider sculptures as tributes to her mother, a tapestry restorer. She wrote: "The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend… Like a spider, my mother was a weaver." The spiders represent maternal protection, industriousness, and nurturing — qualities she associated with her mother, who died when Louise was 21.
Bourgeois died on May 31, 2010, at the age of 98, in New York City, from heart failure. She remained artistically active until her final days, producing new work from her home studio. Her career had an extraordinary late-life renaissance, with her most celebrated works created after the age of 80.
Bourgeois's art explored deeply personal themes including childhood trauma, sexuality, jealousy, betrayal, and the dynamics of family relationships. Her father's affair with her governess was a lifelong source of artistic material. She used art as a form of psychoanalysis, famously stating: "Art is a guarantee of sanity."
This page features public domain works by Louise Bourgeois and is not managed by the artist.
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