French/American sculptor Louise Bourgeois (25/12/11 - 31/05/10) died earlier this week and left the art world mourning. Often the passing of a global artist leads to the quickly arranged retrospective or the moving of a few important works as if they had always held such prominence when the artist was living.

'Maman' by Louise Bourgeois outside the Tate Modern, London

But no such arrangements will need to be made here. Louise Bourgeois was an artist whose reputation proceeded her as far back as the 1950s, and has only grown since. She has constantly been at the forefront of innovative art - gliding blithely between unworldly Abstraction and more pieces that touch on Realism. She is also credited with the movement Confessional Art and the most rewarding experiences with her work are extenuated with a little knowledge of her past.  

Few artists are able to translate a contradictory emotion quite so universally as Louise Bourgeois managed with the anxious and yet reassuring 'Maman'. Staring up at the 9 metre long sculptor is quite frankly uncomfortable from afar, and yet underneath the sculpture becomes a surprising aura of calm. 8 spears pinch the earth around you but they do as much to keep others out as you in.

Sculpture is often an unaccessible art form and yet Bourgeois was able to translate the message of her works to all cultures and classes. Not only was she able to communicate on such a universal level, but the story she was telling was incredibly complex. In reference again to 'Maman' (literally translating to 'Mother') Bourgeios is dealing with the maternal, and intimidating, love of a mother. At once protective of it's brood but equally dangerous to intruders.

In fact the majority of her work draws upon the earlier trauma of discovering her father's extramarital affair with her English teacher and her mother's subsequent blind eye . This subject has been rehearsed many times over but never with such convolution and rarely by a woman.  

As the Tate Modern celebrates it's 10th birthday who was the first artist to be given the honour of the Turbine Hall commission? Bourgeois. And in fact she did it, twice.