Why an artist made these iconic spider sculptures

Louise Bourgeois's spiders, towering and delicate, are located around the world, from Kansas City to Seoul. The largest sculpture in the series, "Maman" -- French for mother -- stands 30 feet tall at London's Tate Modern; powerfully crouched, its spindly bronze legs taper down to exquisite pinpoints. Underneath the spider's abdomen, a metal egg sac full of white marble orbs hangs ominously over viewers' heads. Though Bourgeois didn't begin her spiders until she was in her eighties, they have become her best-known works.