End of Softness 1967

Louise Bourgeois made this mysterious golden sculpture, End of Softness, sometime in her long lifetime. It looks like a pile of bodies, or maybe body parts, all smooshed together and cast in gold. It has an oozing quality, like something soft has turned hard, and its reflective surface captures and throws back the light, giving it a fluid energy. What might Bourgeois have been thinking when she made this? I imagine her wrestling with themes of intimacy and alienation. How does something so tactile also feel so distant? This piece makes me think about other works of hers, like her giant spider sculptures, Maman, where a delicate, vulnerable creature becomes monumental and imposing. Bourgeois’s work is like a conversation between artists across time, asking questions about our bodies, our fears, and our desires. She reminds us that art doesn't have to give easy answers. It invites us to stay curious, to question, and to find our own meaning in the messy, unresolved spaces of our experiences.