Observer is part of a series of life-size sculptures called Personages that Louise Bourgeois created between 1945 and 1955. Symbolizing individuals from the artist’s past, the figures' thin verticality evokes the fragility of the human condition, a common theme in the arts of the postwar period.

Bourgeois rejected being associated with the Surrealists and remained an outsider to the art world during the flourishing of abstraction after World War II. Yet her work shared commonalities with both movements, including the visual exploration of memories and other psychological forces. One of the defining characteristics of her work is its deeply emotional subject matter, often autobiographical, that references familial relationships and the desire for belonging.

Throughout her career, Bourgeois created sculptures from a variety of materials, including stone, bronze, plaster, and rubber. Observer was first carved in wood and subsequently cast in bronze, retaining the appearance of the earlier version.