Looking for Louise Bourgeois

In case you haven’t read the news, sculptor Louise Bourgeois passed away yesterday. She was 98. It seems fitting that all these retrospectives about her life and career ran over Memorial Day weekend; when it comes to artists, she’s a good one to remember.

But let’s say you want to do more than read her fawning obits. Let’s say you want to get out there and see some of her artwork. Where do you go? Fortunately, there are a few pieces of hers in the area if you’re willing to take a Bourgeois-inspired day trip. Here’s where to go:

Dia:Beacon, Beacon
Bourgeois has always been one of the mainstay artists here. Look for her long-term installations, which feature free forms suspended from the gallery ceiling. I’m not sure if it’s still there, but I know in the past that Dia:Beacon also has had one of her famed monumental spider sculptures.

Storm King Art Center, Mountainville
Great sculptures abound in this outdoor art museum, but to see the Louise Bourgeois you’ll have to head indoors. There, in the on-site museum, you’ll find Number Seventy-Two (The No March), transplanted from The Whitney in NYC. The sculpture is made up of a field of 1,000 individually cut marble cylinders. Storm King quotes Bourgeois as saying: “The No March also means accepting you’re almost nobody, [that] you have to merge with thousands like you.”

Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase
The current exhibition, Living with Art: Collecting Contemporary in Metro New York, features selections from six major private collections in the area. One of the collectors happened to lend the museum his Louise Bourgeois. Femme Couteau is a sculpture that resembles a woman lying on her back.

Did I miss any Bourgeois art in the Valley? Let me know in the comments below.