Spider (Bourgeois)

While the spider itself is bronze, the rest of the sculpture uses a variety of multimedia techniques. These materials include steel, fabric, wood, glass, tapestry, rubber, bone, silver, and gold.[5] Spider stands 175 x 262 x 204 inches,[2] nearly 15 feet in height. Underneath the belly of the spider's main body there is a basket with three glass eggs inside. The spider hovers over a large steel cage, with its body resting on the top and its giant legs surrounding it. Inside the cage there is a singular chair with a tapestry on it. The cage is decorated with several other tapestries as well. There are also various other household objects and trinkets that have been hung, strewn, or stuck into the cage.

Among scholars, the spider is thought to be a symbol of Bourgeois' mother, who was a weaver and a tapestry restorer. One scholar in particular, Mieke Bal, even went so far as to posit that the figure of the spider is a direct metaphor for her mother's care and protection with regard to family life.[9] As a child, Bourgeois worked in her mother's shop and was tasked with drawing in the missing elements of worn or damaged tapestries. The incomplete fabrics on and in the cage are thought to be symbolic of that element of her childhood.[5] Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois' long time assistant, said that this piece was representative of a place where she felt safe: surrounded by the spider as her mother and the tapestries that reminded her of her childhood.[10] Gorovoy also says that the artist treasured these memories, especially those of her mother, and is aiming to preserve them with this piece.[11] Bourgeois would later expand upon these themes of motherhood and her portrayal of spiders with her 1999 sculpture Maman,[2] which she expressly described as "An ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver... Spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.[12]"

The Spider found a home in Moscow, Russia at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in 2015.[13] The Guggenheim had the piece on display as a part of their temporary collection Louise Bourgeois: Structures of Existence; the Cells until September 2016.[14] The sculpture then went to the Louisiana for their exhibition from October 2016 until February 2017.[15] Spider was also showcased at the MoMA in New York from September 24, 2017 until January 28, 2018 in an exhibition entitled Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait.[16]

In 2006, Bourgeois became the highest-paid living woman artist after a Spider sold for $4 million at Christie's in London; which was surpassed in 2008, when another Spider sold for $4.5 million.[17] A new record price for the artist was achieved when Spider number two, acquired from Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, was auctioned by a private collector with an estimate of $4 million to $6 million.[18] The price realized at Christie's on 8 November 2011 was $10,722,500.[3] This is the highest price paid for an artwork by a woman artist at the time.[19] This was surpassed in 2015 by a Spider auctioned by Christie's for $28.2 million.[20] Christie's was then estimated to sell the sculpture for anywhere up to $35 million at a contemporary art sale in New York in May 2019.[21]

• List of artworks by Louise Bourgeois
• Cultural depictions of spiders
• Maman (sculpture)