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Louise Bourgeois: ‘A prisoner of my memories’

Louise Bourgeois: ‘A prisoner of my memories’

Critic, painter and art historian Robert Storr reflects on the life and career of Louise Bourgeois, 'the artist everybody has heard about but nobody knows'. Her gigantic, disturbing spider sculptures count amongst the most iconic and popular art works of our era. These monumental structures, which now reside in numerous locations throughout the world, arose from Bourgeois' critical engagement with her own psychological pain, and serve to put viewers in touch with their deepest fears.

Storr explains how Bourgeois' unhappy childhood was the source of a lifetime of anguish, but also the spring bed for a remarkable intellectual journey and creative invention. Invisible for much of her career, but profoundly engaged with the world and artists around her, Bourgeois changed forever the way women artists are seen and opened up new, stimulating possibilities in contemporary art.

Time Period:

20th century