Louise Bourgeois Quotes

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Louise Bourgeois

Profession : Artist

Birth : December 25, 1911

My art is a form of restoration in terms of my feelings to myself and to others.

Louise Bourgeois

My childhood has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama.

Louise Bourgeois

To express your emotions, you have to be very loose and receptive. The unconscious will come to you if you have that gift that artists have. I only know if I'm inspired by the results.

Louise Bourgeois

I have kept a diary as long as I can remember, and drawings are really another kind of diary.

Louise Bourgeois

Space is something that you have to define. Otherwise, it is like anxiety, which is too vague. A fear is something specific. I like claustrophobic spaces, because at least then you know your limits.

Louise Bourgeois

I was raised a Catholic. But I am not religious. In my work, I am interested in real flesh and blood.

Louise Bourgeois

Look at it this way - a totem pole is just a decorated tree. My work is a confessional.

Louise Bourgeois

I know that when I finish a drawing, my anxiety level decreases. The realistic drawings are a way of pinning down an idea. I don't want to loose it. With the abstract drawings, when I'm feeling loose, I can slip into the unconscious.

Louise Bourgeois

Even though what I do does enter the market, it doesn't interest me. I am exclusively concerned with the formal qualities of my work. It is about the need and the right to self-expression.

Louise Bourgeois

When my mother died, I fell apart. My father wanted to control me. As a consequence, I ran away to America.

Louise Bourgeois

I was a 'runaway girl' from France who married an American and moved to New York City. I'm not sure I would have continued as an artist had I remained in Paris because of the family setup.

Louise Bourgeois

I have drawn my whole life. My parents were in the tapestry restoration business, and as a young girl, I would draw in the missing parts of the tapestry that needed to be rewoven.

Louise Bourgeois

I don't watch TV. I don't use a computer, a fax or a cellphone.

Louise Bourgeois