Église Louise Bourgeois - Inside the Louise Bourgeois Church Bonnieux, France

A hidden gem

found in the Luberon

By EWA MONIKA ZEBROWSKI  September 27th, 2025

It is not often that art feels like a religious experience.

Louise Bourgeois’ sculptures and installations found in a small austere church in the Luberon take on dimensions that convey a spiritual message.

In this setting, outside the more traditional museum/gallery context, her sculptures make an almost religious statement, about the fragility of being, inspiring contemplation and even prayer.

There is something mystical about finding the work of a great artist in a place that is not accessible to the general public.  The Louise Bourgeois Church is privately owned, and only open for public visits 4 weeks a year at the end of summer.

A few weeks ago I discovered the Louise Bourgeois Church, sometimes referred to as the Louise Bourgeois Chapel,

in Bonnieux, France.

The experience moved me deeply.

Not often does one have the opportunity to experience great art

in such an intimate setting.

I felt as if I had been allowed to share in a special secret.

The small stone Chapel was difficult to find.

Located at the end of a narrow steep road,

it sits amidst the lush greenness of Provence in its simplicity.

 Arrival, Louise Bourgeois Church, photo: Ewa Monika Zebrowski
 

I arrived after lunch on a September afternoon to find a few other curious travellers wanting to discover the little-known work of this renowned artist.  We were warmly welcomed by the two guides.

Louise Bourgeois was invited to create work for the Church by French banker and collector, Jean-Claude Meyer in 1998, at the age of 87.

Bourgeois was living in New York at the time and never visited the site.

The deconsecrated Church was part of a 17^th century Franciscan convent, Couvent d’O, purchased by Meyer. 

We walked through the space anticipating her sculptures.

The feeling was similar to seeing and contemplating the stations of the cross.

 Holy Water Font, photo: Ewa Monika Zebrowskii

As we discovered the minimalist space, we witnessed fragments of her metaphysical world: 

a spider, a confessional, a holy water font, a crucifix, and much more.

There are 8 installations in all including two small handmade fabric dolls, religious in nature, one a crucifix, the other the Virgin Mary and child.  Tender representations.

 Virgin Mary & Child, photo: Ewa Monika Zebrowski

 

The atmosphere was sombre, contemplative, silent.

A number of wooden chairs were empty, as if awaiting the faithful.

At the front of the church a modest bronze crucifix stood on a rough stone floor. A reminder that this was once a place of worship.  At each end of the transversal segment of the cross there was a hand.

One hand was closed in a tight fist, the other wide open.

The hand that gives and the hand that takes away.

 
 Cross, photo: Ewa Monika Zebrowski

The holy water font, made of textured pink Carrara marble, the colour of flesh, was at the entrance.  It was reminiscent of a womb, the interior lined with a series of breasts that surprise. Surreal.  I thought it could have been a baptismal font given the maternal reference.  

The imposing wire confessional resembled a circular cage.

It contained two pillows embroidered by Bourgeois’ mother, one rests on a chair for the priest, the other on a kneeler for the sinner. The words, resurrection, redemption, reparation, restauration, reconciliation, are engraved around the top circumference of the confessional.

 Confessional, photo: Ewa Monika Zebrowski

  Confessional, photo, Ewa Monika Zebrowski

A marble sculpture of four praying hands raised toward heaven, reminded me of a Rodin sculpture The Cathedral (1908).  The sculpture was adjacent to the confessional.    

We discovered a small spider scaling one of the walls.

Almost anecdotal.

The spider, Bourgeois’ signature piece throughout her career, represents her mother.  In this this private, monastic place, the bronze spider seemed to be watching, guarding, protecting the artist from its perch on the wall.

Bourgeois’ preoccupations with rebirth, maternity, creativity, all reveal themselves in her work throughout the church. 

Each work invites a pause.

 
Spider, photo: Ewa Monika Zebrowski

The chapel was inaugurated in 2004 by Jack Lange,

the Minister of Culture at the time.

Discovering and seeing the church proved the highlight of my summer. 

A kind of solemn pilgrimage.   

Louise Bourgeois died in 2010.  She was 99 years old.

The estate of Louise Bourgeois is represented by Hauser & Wirth.

The church is still privately owned by the same owner.

After I left I continued to think about the Chapel.

I wanted to return, to stand longer in front of each sculpture,

thinking about what Louise Bourgeois had so tenderly conceived near the end 

of her life, and to say a prayer. 

 Summer Visits, photo: Ewa Monika Zebrowski