{"id":62357,"date":"2023-08-04T05:39:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T04:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=62357"},"modified":"2025-07-28T09:54:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T08:54:20","slug":"louise-bourgeois-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/louise-bourgeois-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Louise Bourgeois exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouissmall.jpg\" alt=\"Museum fa\u00e7ade\" class=\"wp-image-62355\" style=\"width:149px;height:199px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouissmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouissmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A red thread might run through our lives, but seldom do we get to see it measured out in paintings, sculptures, and more. That&#8217;s the premise of Lower Belvedere&#8217;s solo exhibition for the great French-American artist, Louise Bourgeois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Many major works on display<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rare chance to experience her oeuvre<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Presents Bourgeois&#8217;s early oil paintings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2026in dialogue with later drawings, prints, sculptures &amp; installations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Sept 22, 2023 &#8211; Jan 28, 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Overview of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/lower-belvedere\/\">Lower Belvedere<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/\">Art exhibitions<\/a> in Vienna<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Persistent Antagonism<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bourgeouis5.jpg\" alt=\"Inside view of the Bourgeois exhibition\" class=\"wp-image-64024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bourgeouis5.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bourgeouis5-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Exhibition view <em>Louise Bourgeois. Persistent Antagonism<\/em>, \u00d6sterreichische Galerie Belvedere, 2023; photo by Johannes Stoll; \u00a9 The Easton Foundation \/ Bildrecht, Wien 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aristotle once (possibly) said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll forgive him his male focus given the times, but the point remains that we are (at least in part) the products of our youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some claim the principle applies to artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever influences and developments might emerge in a career, later works perhaps still carry echoes of early creations, approaches and experiences. Or not: you&#8217;ll have to ask Aristotle.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis1.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Louise Bourgeois around 1946\" class=\"wp-image-62352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis1-300x296.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Louise Bourgeois in the studio of her apartment at 142 East 18th Street in NYC, circa 1946; photo: \u00a9 The Easton Foundation \/ Bildrecht, Vienna 2023 and VAGA at ARS, NY)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lower Belvedere&#8217;s <em>Louise Bourgeois: Persistent Antagonism<\/em> exhibition pursues this theme in a solo exhibition for one of the 20th-century&#8217;s most renowned artists, created in cooperation with her estate and close associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bourgeois (1911-2010) enjoys wide recognition, particularly for her sculptures and installations, such as the spider creations and the room-filling <em>Cells<\/em> produced later in her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The themes Bourgeoise tackled across her work drew extensively on her childhood in France (she moved to New York in 1938). She noted, for example, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2007\/oct\/14\/art4\">2007 interview<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>My works are portraits of a relationship, and the most important one was my mother\u2026how these feelings for her feed into my work is both complex and mysterious. I&#8217;m still trying to understand the mechanism.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"387\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis2.jpg\" alt=\"Sculptural work by Louise Bourgeois\" class=\"wp-image-62353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis2-300x232.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Louise Bourgeois, UNTITLED (NO.7), 1993; photo: Christopher Burke, \u00a9 The Easton Foundation \/ Bildrecht, Vienna)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bourgeoise&#8217;s early paintings already featured those threads that would persist into the future. And Belvedere showcases those very works from the 1940s: their first appearance in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibition places these oil paintings in dialogue with Bourgeoise&#8217;s later art. In the first gallery, for example, we see her childhood home appear in works from the late 1930s and early 1940s, but also in the <em>Cell (Choisy)<\/em> installation from the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As such, <em>Persistent Antagonism<\/em> seeks to demonstrate and explore thematic connections through time. In the same interview quoted above, Bourgeois says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>When I see all the work that I have produced, I realised&#8230;how consistent and persistent I have been.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>So we have a rare trio to experience&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis3.jpg\" alt=\"Painting by Louise Bourgeois\" class=\"wp-image-62354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/bourgeouis3-300x204.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Louise Bourgeois, ROOF SONG, 1947; photo: Eeva Inkeri, \u00a9 The Easton Foundation \/ Bildrecht, Vienna 2023; private Collection, New Jersey)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First, a chance to encounter the widest of oeuvres: from drawings, paintings and prints to sculptures and installations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a fascination to observing artistic change over decades captured in one room. And startling to discover the time gap between works sharing motifs and themes: one a 1945 painting, the other a 2005 bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Second, a chance to immerse ourselves in the creativity and expressiveness of an artist who could combine contradictions, opposites, emotions, fears, formative experiences and more in individual pieces of art.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Wandering around, you&#8217;re struck by the diversity of media, too, and can&#8217;t help but feel a wistful twinge of envy at those not content to limit their achievements and brilliance to one artistic field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sculptures grabbed my attention in particular, most notably the untitled 2004 aluminium piece that reminded me of Tony Cragg&#8217;s works. And positioned to feature the reflections of the 2005 <em>Spirals<\/em> series of woodcuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking positioning, 2008&#8217;s <em>Cell (The Last Climb)<\/em> installation fitted the giant marble hall of Lower Belvedere perfectly, its rusted cage against russet marble, the spiral staircase within lifting your eyes to the frescoed ceiling. I doff my hat to the curators and exhibition architect.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"359\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bourgeouis4.jpg\" alt=\"Cell installation (The Last Climb)\" class=\"wp-image-64023\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bourgeouis4.jpg 359w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bourgeouis4-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Louise Bourgeois, <em>Cell (The Last Climb)<\/em>, 2008; photo: Christopher Burke, \u00a9 The Easton Foundation \/ Bildrecht, Wien 2023; Collection National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Third, a chance to enjoy the work of one of the most exalted of 20th-century artists<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As regards the third point, consider that Bourgeois has had retrospectives and other solo exhibitions at such prestigious institutions as London&#8217;s Tate Modern, New York&#8217;s MoMA (her work has appeared in over 75 exhibitions there), Paris&#8217;s Centre Pompidou and St. Petersburg&#8217;s State Hermitage Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Various wall quotes from Bourgeois herself guide you through the exhibition and make it easier to grasp the meaning and intention behind the art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The combination of the artist&#8217;s own words and the carefully curated works feels like a privileged peek inside a sharp, intelligent, analytical and artistic mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many exhibitions miss this degree of immersion, and my visit left me with some reflecting to do (not always healthy when you reach my age). Take your time going round&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tickets\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the deep dive into the works of Bourgeois from September 22nd, 2023 to January 28th, 2024. A valid entrance ticket for Lower Belvedere includes the special exhibition(s) inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bourgeois exhibition is one of four notable exhibitions to brighten the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others are the Albertina&#8217;s look at Michelangelo and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/michelangelo\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"62279\">subsequent depiction<\/a> of the human form, the Kunsthistorisches Museum&#8217;s presentation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/raphael-gold-silk\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"62659\">Raphael and Renaissance tapestries<\/a>, and the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/robert-motherwell-exhibition\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"64441\">solo exhibition<\/a> for Robert Motherwell. All run until January 14th, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get there<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Just follow the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/gettingthere3\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3402\">travel tips<\/a> for Lower Belvedere. The exhibition takes place in the main exhibition area of the lower palace itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Rennweg 6, 1030 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1ksawXWFMVD9bljA48Gi7_VvWSfI\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lower Belvedere&#8217;s exhibition places the early paintings of this 20th-century icon in dialogue with her later works<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-62357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belvedere-sites","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62357"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84857,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62357\/revisions\/84857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}