The fierce life of Louise Bourgeois
Laura Cumming | The Observer | 14th January 2026
Louise Bourgeois’ “psychological artwork” was clearly autobiographical. Does a new biography, benefitting from access to her diaries, cast new light on this “raging genius”? Not much. Her troubled family life gave rise to well-known obsessions – “sexuality, her relationship to her parents, her sense of isolation” – that drove her creativity. Yet the biography is “too timid” and skirts many issues that might illuminate her art. That’s a pity because, as Bourgeois’ herself noted “sculpture is the body. My body is the sculpture.”