Youth

1938–1939

Moves to New York with her husband

With her husband, who taught at New York University, Bourgeois moved to the United States and settled in New York City. There she continued her education at the Art Students League under Vaclav Vytlacil while also producing sculptures and prints.

1940s

A turn to sculpture under the influence of the Surrealists

In the 1940s Bourgeois concentrated on sculpture, and she was strongly influenced by the influx of European Surrealist artists who emigrated to the United States after the Second World War. At first her sculptures consisted of groups of abstract, organic forms, often carved from wood.

1945

First solo exhibition

Bourgeois’s first solo show took place in 1945, but despite it she received very little attention from the art world.

1949

First exhibition of her sculptures

In 1949 the first exhibition of Bourgeois’s sculptures was held.

1950s

The turn from wood to marble, plaster and bronze

Working with the American Abstract Artists group, Bourgeois moved from wood and upright structures to marble, plaster and bronze as she investigated fear, vulnerability and loss of control. The transition was a turning point.

1982

First retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art

In 1982 the Museum of Modern Art in New York held Bourgeois’s first retrospective; she was seventy, and until then had been a peripheral figure whose work was more admired than acclaimed. The New York Times wrote that her work was charged with tenderness and violence, acceptance and defiance.