These materials include steel, fabric, wood, glass, tapestry, rubber, bone, silver, and gold.

The spider hovers over a large steel cage, with its body resting on the top and its giant legs surrounding it.

The legs are thick, but in his first-hand description of the piece, Dutch cultural theorist, video and literary scholar, and professor at the University of Amsterdam,[6] Mieke Bal, describes them as being, "like a ballerina's; they stand on fine points of needle sharp toes."

To the left there is another fragment of fabric that depicts a crown with curly hair underneath, an owl flying upwards, and a blue sky.

A key is also hanging inside the cage along with perfume bottles (thought to be reminiscent of a girl's youth[8]), a medal, and a watch.

One scholar in particular, Mieke Bal, even went so far as to posit that the figure of the spider is a direct metaphor for her mother's care and protection with regard to family life.

[9] As a child, Bourgeois worked in her mother's shop and was tasked with drawing in the missing elements of worn or damaged tapestries.

[5] Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois' long time assistant, said that this piece was representative of a place where she felt safe: surrounded by the spider as her mother and the tapestries that reminded her of her childhood.

[11] Bourgeois would later expand upon these themes of motherhood and her portrayal of spiders with her 1999 sculpture Maman,[2] which she expressly described as "An ode to my mother.

[13] The Guggenheim had the piece on display as a part of their temporary collection Louise Bourgeois: Structures of Existence; the Cells until September 2016.

[15] Spider was also showcased at the MoMA in New York from September 24, 2017 until January 28, 2018 in an exhibition entitled Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait.