Kemper Museum Spider

Kansas City, Missouri, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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Spider is a bronze sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, made in 1996 and cast in 1997, in the collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. The City of Fountains Foundation says it stands near the museum entrance.

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Kemper Museum Spider

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Site-level location · 39.0389° N, 94.5836° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A bronze spider more than eleven feet tall, with a body that floats overhead between its legs, belongs to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City; the City of Fountains Foundation places it near the museum entrance.

The Kemper's collection record lists Spider by Louise Bourgeois as made in 1996 and cast in 1997, edition 3 of 6, in bronze with a dark polished patina. It measures 133 by 263 by 249 inches, and entered the collection in 1997 as a gift of the William T. Kemper Charitable Trust, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee. Bourgeois, born in Paris in 1911, died in New York in 2010. The City of Fountains Foundation, which documents Kansas City's sculptures, calls it one of the city's more striking sculptures and says it appears on museum advertisements and banners. It gives the piece as over eleven feet tall and eleven feet wide; the museum's measurements are larger across.

The foundation says that the legs have many bumps and ridges along the smooth bronze, and that no two are alike. It adds that, according to the artist, the spider is a feminist hero figure, and that Bourgeois made her spider sculptures in honour of her mother, who was, like a spider, deliberate, soothing and patient.

The foundation also says the sculpture is positioned as if the spider were walking towards the museum to attend to her baby, a separate sculpture that used to be attached to the facade near the entrance. The Kemper's collection also holds a smaller Bourgeois bronze, Spider I, 1995, 50 by 46 by 12¼ inches, from the same 1997 gift; neither source says whether it is the wall-mounted piece the foundation describes.

The museum lists free admission. In 2026 its hours are Wednesday 10 am to 4 pm, Thursday 10 am to 9 pm and Friday to Sunday 10 am to 4 pm, with Monday and Tuesday closed.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

The City of Fountains Foundation places Spider near the entrance of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum lists free admission and, in 2026, opening Wednesday to Sunday (Thursday until 9 pm); it is closed Monday and Tuesday.

ACCESS

Near the entrance of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri. Check the museum's hours before visiting.

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Crying Giant (Kemper Museum)

Kansas City, Missouri

Crying Giant is a bronze sculpture by Tom Otterness, dated 2002, in the collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri, where the City of Fountains Foundation places it on the museum's lawn. It shows a seated giant with its head in its hands and is about 11 feet tall.

Public art

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0.2 km away

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