First comprehensive exhibition of paintings by the famous sculptor

Maman is the name of Louise Bourgeois' spider sculptures from the 1990s. The tallest of them measures over nine meters. They symbolize Bourgeois' mother, a weaver who offered the artist protection from her father in her childhood. This and other motifs can already be found in paintings from the 1930s, which are now being exhibited comprehensively for the first time: Louise Bourgeois: Paintings will be on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from April 12 to August 7.

The exhibition was prompted by the latest archival discoveries, which now shed light on a lesser-known creative period of the artist: Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) studied art in New York in the 1930s, where she produced the paintings now on display. From about 1940 she worked mainly sculpturally. Themes of security and dependence, which had shaped her since childhood, permeate her decades-long career.