Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) was born on December 25, 1911. This book, which is devoted to the central themes of the late artist's oeuvre, is being published on the occasion of her one-hundredth birthday. It examines her life, her exploration of the works of other artists, and the transformation of her emotions into works of art. Over the course of nine chapters, characteristic works are presented in the context of art history by comparing and contrasting them with works from the Beyeler Collection. The book brings home the fact that Bourgeois not only offset the important antagonism between the figurative and the abstract in modernism, she also helped to provide a unique interpretive level to modern art beyond that of the purely visible. This publication is an introduction to the life and work of a woman who was one of the most important artists of her time.