Louise Bourgeois

This is the first major survey since 1995 of works by the French-born artist Louise Bourgeois (born 1911). Bourgeois has worked through most of the avant-garde artistic movements of the 20th century, from Surrealism to Conceptual art, but has always remained uniquely apart, powerfully inventive and often at the forefront of contemporary practice. The exhibition features early drawings, prints, and paintings, as well as sculptures—created using a variety of modern and traditional techniques—that explore Bourgeois's core themes of femininity, sexuality, and isolation, while demonstrating that she continues to defy convention in her 90s.

Louise Bourgeois's sculpture Crouching Spider is on view starting Dec. 19, 2008, outside the museum entrance in anticipation of the Feb. 26 exhibition opening. It will remain on view through May 17, 2009.