Spider II, 1995

Bronze, wall piece 
AP; Edition of 6 + 1 AP 
185.4 x 185.4 x 57.2 cm / 73 x 73 x 22 1/2 inches 

About the art

Spider II (1995) is from a series Bourgeois began in the mid-1990s that takes the spider as its subject. Ranging from monumental installations to small-scale prints, her now iconic image originally appeared in a simple charcoal and ink drawing she made some fifty years earlier. For Bourgeois, the spider was symbolic of her mother, a tapestry restorer who rewove old tapestries like the spider weaves its web. She described her mother as her best friend and said, “she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider.” Often represented as protectively carrying a sack of eggs, Bourgeois’s spiders are both vulnerable and poised, delicate and strong. They are among some of the most recognizable sculptures in the world. 

About the artist

French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911 – 2010) is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art. She also made drawings, paintings, and prints over the course of her prolific, seven-decade long career, and consistently explored the most intimate and complex aspects of the human psyche. From memory and childhood, to motherhood, sex and trauma, Bourgeois’s work examines both the deeply personal and the universal, often refracted through a Freudian, psychoanalytic lens. 

Photo courtesy of Thomas Barratt and Hauser & Wirth.