The "Femme Maison" series by Louise Bourgeois, created between 1946 and 1947, stands as a pivotal exploration of female identity. In this series, Bourgeois presents a fusion of nude female figures with architectural forms, such as buildings and houses, effectively replacing their heads and bodies with these structures. This translation of "Femme Maison" from French directly as "woman house" or "housewife" suggests a commentary on the traditional roles assigned to women, particularly in the context of home and family life.

Bourgeois herself remarked on the inherent contradiction in the Femme Maison figures, noting their lack of awareness about being partially exposed, and yet attempting to hide, showcasing a complex interplay of visibility and concealment, awareness and obliviousness. This duality emphasizes the struggle with identity and self-perception that Bourgeois often revisited in her work, highlighting the tension between the domestic sphere and the individual's internal world.

Feminist interpretations of the series see it as a critique of the erasure of women's identities within the domestic and familial roles, echoing the "problem with no name" that Betty Friedan identified in the 1960s—referring to the widespread unhappiness of women who were trying to find fulfillment solely through these roles in suburban America. Bourgeois's personal history and her experiences with femininity, psychoanalysis, and communication also deeply inform these works, making them rich in both personal and broader socio-cultural implications.

Moreover, the use of architecture in the series not only references the social constructs that attempt to define and confine individual identity but also creates a visual dichotomy between the physical body and the emotional, mental, and societal structures that encase it. This tension is further explored through the sculptures that evolved from the Femme Maison paintings, where Bourgeois experimented with various materials and forms to continue probing the themes of identity, memory, and the body.

Louise Bourgeois's Femme Maison series thus stands as a critical commentary on the complexities of female identity, merging personal trauma with broader societal observations and employing a unique visual language that combines the human figure with architectural forms​ (Wikipedia)​​ (The Art Story)​.