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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“It is not so much where my motivation comes from but rather how it manages to survive.”

“And what’s the use of talking, if you already know that others don’t feel what you feel?”

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

“To be an artist, you need to exist in a world of silence.”

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

“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.”

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

“Tell your own story, and you will be interesting.”

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

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