The 32 million dollar spider-record: sold the “Spider” by Louise Bourgeois

A monumental «Spider» (1996) by the French naturalized American sculptor Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) was auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York last night for 32,500,000 dollars (30,500,000 euros). The giant three-metre-high spider, which started at $30 million, broke two records: according to a Sotheby’s spokesman, Kelsey Leonard, it set a record for an auction of a work by Bourgeois herself, but also for a sculpture by a woman.

“The Bourgeois spiders are undoubtedly a true masterpiece of 20th-century art,” he said. Monumental Bourgeois spiders are considered highlights of prestigious museum and private collections around the world. Other editions of this cast are held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. The sculpture was entrusted to Sotheby’s by the Fundação Itaú, based in Brazil, where it had been for more than two decades.

The Foundation acquired the sculpture in 1996, the same year in which the work was executed, after it was presented at the 23rd São Paulo Biennial. «Spider» was loaned to the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art from 1997 to 2017 and to other institutional collections and has been exhibited throughout Brazil, from the Inhotim Museum to the Fundação Iberê Camargo and the Rio de Janeiro Art Museum. The Bourgeois sculpture was an early core component of the Fundação Itaú collection when it was acquired more than 25 years ago by Olavo Setubal (art collector and one of the founders of Itaú Unibanco). Today, however, the foundation’s collection focuses primarily on collecting and promoting the works of artists based in Brazil. The proceeds of the sale will be entirely destined to Itaú Cultural, an institution created 35 years ago to channel art and culture initiatives. Under the supervision of the Fundação Itaú, Itaú Cultural offers an extensive free programming of exhibitions, theater performances, attractions for children at its headquarters in São Paulo and throughout Brazil, in collaboration with other institutions.