Louise Bourgeois

In the adjacent outdoor space surrounding its newly-opened Southampton location, Hauser & Wirth has installed a pair of surrealist granite benches by Louise Bourgeois: Eye Benches II (1996–1997).

While each structure resembles an eye, it also serves as fully functional seating. Beyond such practical applications, the black granite sculptures—which are at once evocative and enigmatic—impart a sense of Bourgeois’s darkly captivating, psychologically-provocative style onto the premises.

Eye Benches II is open to the public—for looking and sitting alike.

Whether it is an eye that sees the reality of things or whether it is an eye that sees a world of fantasy...It is the quality of your eyes and the strength of your eyes that are expressed here. Nobody is going to keep me from seeing what is instead of what I would like” —Louise Bourgeois