Maman is Louise Bourgeois's giant bronze spider, about 9 metres tall, on the plaza of the National Gallery of Canada on Sussex Drive in Ottawa. Under her body hangs a sac of white marble eggs. The title is French for 'mother', and that is what the spider stands for: Bourgeois made it as a tribute to her own mother, who helped run the family workshop restoring old tapestries.
Maman at a glance
- Where: on the plaza in front of the National Gallery of Canada on Sussex Drive, between the ByWard Market and the Ottawa River.
- Created: designed in 1999; Ottawa's bronze was cast in 2003 and bought by the gallery in 2004.
- By: Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), the French-born American sculptor.
- What it is today: part of the National Gallery's collection, on permanent display outdoors, so you can see it at any time of day.
- Time needed: 10–15 minutes, longer if you go into the gallery.
From London's Turbine Hall to Sussex Drive
Bourgeois first made Maman in steel in 1999 for the opening of Tate Modern in London in 2000, when she was the first artist invited to create a work for its huge Turbine Hall. Bronze casts followed, and spiders from the same edition now stand in several cities, among them outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.
The National Gallery of Canada bought its cast in 2004 and set it in front of its glass-and-granite building, designed by the architect Moshe Safdie and opened in 1988. Ottawa's Maman is made of bronze, stainless steel and marble, and measures 927 by 891 by 1,024 centimetres, so you can stand upright under her body with room to spare. She quickly became one of the most photographed sights in the capital.
What to look for
- The egg sac: look up under the body to see the cage holding the white marble eggs.
- The legs: eight long, thin, ridged legs that end in fine points barely touching the ground, which makes the heavy bronze body look as if it hovers.
- The surface of the bronze: ribbed and uneven, closer to something modelled by hand than to a smooth machine-made finish.
- The scale: watch how small people look standing between the legs. Bourgeois wanted viewers to feel the spider's protective size.
- The setting: behind Maman rises the glass Great Hall of the gallery, and across Sussex Drive stand the twin silver spires of Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica.
Why a spider?
Bourgeois grew up in France in her parents' workshop, where old tapestries were restored, and her spiders are bound up with her mother, Joséphine, who died when Louise was in her early twenties. Bourgeois described her mother as patient, clever and as useful as a spider: someone who mended, wove and protected, like a spider repairing its web. So the creature that frightens many visitors at first was meant by the artist as a figure of care rather than menace.
Tips for your visit
- Walk underneath the spider for the best view of the eggs, but don't climb on or hang from the legs.
- Come in the morning for photos without crowds; summer afternoons and festival days on the plaza are busy.
- Shoot from low down near one of the legs to fit the whole spider against the sky, with the cathedral spires in the background.
Nearby
- Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica: Ottawa's Catholic cathedral with its twin silver spires, right across Sussex Drive.
- Major's Hill Park: the green park next to the gallery, with views over the Ottawa River and the locks of the Rideau Canal.
- ByWard Market: the city's old market district of food stalls, restaurants and shops, a few minutes' walk east.
- Royal Canadian Mint: the Mint's Ottawa building a little further along Sussex Drive, where collector coins are made.
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Facts checked in October 2026.