Spider

Spider is a bronze sculpture at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington. It stands on a paved area among low hedges and trees, with eight slender legs angling outward from a central oval body that leaves enough clearance to walk beneath.

Louise Bourgeois made the piece in the late 1990s, using the spider form to express memories of her childhood and family bonds. The sculpture entered the National Gallery collection shortly after completion and has stood in the garden ever since.

The artist named the piece after the arachnid to honor her mother, who worked restoring tapestries and weaving textiles. Visitors often circle around and use the open space beneath the body to look upward, taking in the proportions from different angles.

The garden is freely accessible and remains open year-round, making it possible to visit at any time of day. Walking all the way around gives a full sense of the scale and the angle of the legs from every direction.

The surface of each leg shows a rough, irregular texture that resembles hammered metal and shifts darker or lighter as the daylight changes. Some visitors notice thin weld seams along the segments that reveal how the piece was assembled.