(New York) A gigantic Spider by the French sculptor and visual artist Louise Bourgeois was sold for 32.5 million US dollars on Thursday at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York.
Three meters high, this spider is one of the most famous works of the artist who died in 2010, of French origin and naturalized American, who spent a large part of his life in New York.
Its sale was a “really special moment” as it set an auction record for a work by the artist, but also for a sculpture made by a woman, according to Kelsey Leonard, head of evening auctions from Sotheby’s.
“Les Araignées de Bourgeois is undoubtedly a true masterpiece of 20th century art.e century,” she said.
This Spider by Louise Bourgeois was previously kept by the Fundaçao Itau in São Paulo, Brazil.
In 2022, another Spider by the artist had been sold for 40 million US at the Art Basel fair in Switzerland.
Louise Bourgeois explored in her work the traumas of her childhood, producing a work with a very strong emotional power, even provocative.
She notably produced a series of giant spiders made of steel and presented as symbols of her mother.
Other of these Spiders have been exhibited in renowned museums, such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Tate Modern in London and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.