Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) is often referred to as the reluctant hero of feminist art. Best known for her giant spider sculptures, the artist explored patriarchy, motherhood and what it meant for women to be subjects rather than objects of art.  Bourgeois’s gigantic series of spider sculptures are arguably her most iconic works, which are nightmarish and sublime in equal measure. Bourgeois once explained that she chose the spider as a subject because its traits reminded her of her mother.

“She was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider”. Having been the subject of many public exhibitions around the world from London’s TATE Modern, Rockefeller Centre, New York and Bilbao, Spain, Bourgeois’s spiders have become some of the most widely recognizable sculptures in the world.