“Louisiana’s exhibition Louise Bourgeois. Structures of Existence: The Cells, presents one of the most striking and influential visual artists of the twentieth century. Over a period of some 70 years Louise Bourgeois (1911, Paris – 2010, New York) created a comprehensive oeuvre spanning a wide range of materials and forms, emotions and moods. Her work is permeated by psychoanalytical and feminist themes where direct and strategic combinations of objects, materials and personal detritus have a clear echo in the contemporary art of the present day.

The exhibition concentrates on one of Bourgeois’ most original work types: the Cells. The name cell plays on all the meanings of the word – from prison cell to monk’s cell to the smallest elements of life in the body. Each work is an independent spatial installation filled with carefully arranged objects which, in interaction with cell walls of glass, wire mesh or old doors, create psychologically tense and sensual scenarios.

The membrane between life and art is thin for Bourgeois. Personal history, pain and passion fuel art in which she reworks family traumas and the relationship with her parents and between the genders with equal proportions of fragile hypersensitivity and raw ruthlessness.” — Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Louise Bourgeoi. Cell II, 1991 (detail). Painted wood, marble, steel, glass and mirror. 210.8 x 152.4 x 152.4 cm. Collection Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.

Louise Bourgeois. Spider, 1997. Steel, tapestry, wood, glass, fabric, rubber, silver, gold and bone.449.6 x 665.5 x 518.2 cm. Collection The Easton Foundation.

Louise Bourgeois. Cell XXVI, 2003 (detail). Steel, fabric, aluminum, stainless steel and wood. 252.7 x 434.3 x 304.8 cm. Collection Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Netherlands.

Louise Bourgeois. Cell (The Last Climb), 2008. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Foto: Christopher Burke © The Easton Foundation / Licensed by Copydan.

Louise Bourgeois. Red Room (Parents), 1994 (detail). Wood, metal, rubber, fabric, marble, glass and mirror. 247.7 x 426.7 x 424.2 cm. Private Collection, Courtesy Hauser & Wirth.

Louise Bourgeois inside Articulated Lair. (Coll: MoMA, NYC) in 1986. Photo: © Peter Bellamy © The Easton Foundation / Licensed by Copydan.

The exhibition was organized by Haus der Kunst in Munich in collaboration with the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk. Exhibition curators: Julienne Lorz and Haus der Kunst and curator at Louisiana: Tine Colstrup.

Images courtesy Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.