If Jackson Pollock was the public face of the New York avant-garde, Willem de Kooning could be described as an artist’s artist, who was perceived by many of his peers as its leader. He was born in Rotterdam, where he grew up in an impoverished household and attended the Rotterdam Academy, training in fine and commercial arts. In 1926, the adventurous young artist stowed away on a ship bound for Argentina. While the ship was docked in Virginia, de Kooning slipped off, skirted immigration, and made his way to New Jersey—and so began the rest of his life.
In New Jersey, de Kooning found work as a house painter. Large brushes and fluid paints were the tools of this trade, ones that he would continue to utilise throughout his artistic career. His dual foundations in drawing and craftsmanship underlay all of his work, even his most abstract paintings.
De Kooning’s next stop was New York, where he forged his artistic career. The Jazz Age was in full swing when he moved to the city, and he quickly fell under the sway of the lyrical freedom of jazz and the abstract art made by other artists under its influence. New York also brought him into contact with the work of Henri Matisse and with contemporaries including John Graham and Arshile Gorky, with whom he developed a particularly close and inspiring friendship.
In 1929, the Great Depression brought the Jazz Age to a crashing end. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) program, in the 1930s de Kooning was commissioned to design public murals; he worked under Fernand Léger, who proved to be an important influence. Though his studies for the murals were never realised, they were among his first abstractions, and the experience of working on this project spurred him to pursue art making full-time.
By the 1940s, de Kooning had gained prominence as an artist. Over the course of a career lasting nearly seven decades, he would work through a wide array of styles, eventually cementing himself as a crucial link from New York School painting to European modernism. Physical labor and countless revisions were constants in his work, which ranged from abstraction to figuration, often merging the two. “I never was interested in how to make a good painting…,” he once said. “I didn’t work on it with the idea of perfection, but to see how far one could go…” The female figure was an especially fertile subject for the artist. His paintings of women were among his most controversial works during his lifetime and continue to be debated today
Karen Kedmey, for Moma Exhibition 2017
This is part 1 of a 10-part series on the works of Willem de Kooning:
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| c1916 Untitled (Still LIfe) oil on paperboard 34.3 x 38.4 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1921 Still Life (Bowl, Pitcher and Jug) conté crayon and charcoal on paper 47 x 61.6 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1924 Portrait of Renée oil, charcoal and conté crayon on canvas 56.5 x 46.3 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1924 Untitled (Flower Sellers) conté crayon and watercolour on paper 34.9 x 26.3 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1925 The Kiss graphite on paper 48.2 x 33 cm Allan Stone Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1928 Untitled oil on canvas 40.9 x 51.1 cm Allan Stone Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1931 Untitled Abstraction oil on canvas 60.6 x 83.8 cm Location unknown © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1934 Untitled oil on canvas laid down on panel 91.4 x 114.3 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1936 Study for the Williamsburg Project gouache over pencil on paper 23.7 x 36.5 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1937 Untitled (Study for World's Fair Mural "Medicine") graphite on paper 25.1 x 30 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1937 Untitled opaque watercolour and pencil on paper 22.4 x 39.7 cm Whitney Museum of Art, New York © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1937 Untitled gouache and graphite on paper 14 x 19.1 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1938 Two Standing Men oil and charcoal on canvas 154.9 x 114.3 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1938 Untitled medium? 10.1 x 17.7 cm Allan Stone Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1938-42 Study of a Woman's Head pencil on paper 23.5 x 17.8 cm Collection Chuck Close © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1938 Composition oil and graphite on paper 13.7 x 22.2 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1938 Pink Landscape oil on composition board 63.5 x 94.3 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1938 Reclining Nude (Portrait of Juliet Browner) pencil on paper 26 x 32.4 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1938 Untitled (Harold Rosenberg) pencil on paper 22.9 x 18.4 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1938 Untitled Casein on paper mounted on cardboard 18 x 21.6 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1939 Elegy oil and charcoal on composition board 102.2 x 121.6 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1939 Untitled (Abstract Composition) graphite on paper 26.3 x 21.6 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1939 Untitled (Still Life) double-sided oil and graphite on board 28.6 x 21 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1939-40 Abstract oil on canvas 94.6 x 87 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1939 Seated Man oil and charcoal on canvas 97.1 x 86.9 cm Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC © 2021 The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1940 Untitled ink on paper 36.5 c 27.9 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1940-41 Portrait of Elaine pencil on paper 31.1. x 30.1 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1941 Seated Man (Clown) oil on Masonite 61.3 x 40.8 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1941-43c Seated Figure (Classic Male) oil and charcoal on wood panel 138.1 x 91.4 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1941 Standing Man oil on canvas 104.4 x 86.7 cm Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1942 Untitled oil and charcoal on paper laid down on panel 54.6 x 49.5 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1942 Woman (Portrait of Elaine) oil on board 53.3 x 35.5 cm Allan Stone Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1942-44 The Wave oil on fibreboard 121.9 x 121.9 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1942 Manikins pencil on paper 34.4 x 43 cm Whitney Museum of Art, New York © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1942 Untitled pastel, gouache and charcoal on board 38.1 x 50.8 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1943 Three Women oil on paper mounted on board 35.6 x 45.7 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1943-46 Queen of Hearts oil and charcoal on fibreboard 117 x 70 cm Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC © 2021 The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1944 The Netherlands, from the United Nations Series acrylic on fibreboard 31.9 x 27.4 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1945 Composition oil on masonite 45.7 x 36.8 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1945 Abstraction pastel, wax crayon and graphite on paper 21.6 x 27.9 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1945 Pink Angels oil and charcoal on canvas 132 x 101.6 cm Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1945 Study for Pink Angels pastel and graphite on vellum 35 x 41.3 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1946 Back Drop for "Labyrinth" calcimine and charcoal on canvas 462.2 x 533 cm Private Collection © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1946 Judgement Day oil and charcoal on paper 56.2 x 72.4 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1946 Special Delivery oil, enamel, and charcoal on paper mounted on paperboard 59.3 x 76.1 cm Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC © 2021 The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1947 Event in a Barn oil, enamel and paper collage on board 62.9 x 83.8 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1947 Man pencil on paper 35.5 x 16.1 cm Los Angeles County Museum of Art © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1947 Reclining Nude graphite on tracing paper 21.6 x 27.9 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1947 Self-Portrait in the Wilderness oil and charcoal on board 50.8 x 55.9 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1947 Valentine oil and enamel on paper on board 92.2 x 61.5 cm MoMA, New York © 2021 The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1947-48 Untitled (Three Figures) oil, enamel, graphite and charcoal on paper 52.2 x 50.9 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1947 Two Women pastel and pencil on vellum laid down on paper 35.6 x 35.6 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1947 Untitled (Two Figures) oil, watercolour, charcoal and graphite 57.2 x 55.9 cm (sheet) Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| c1947 Woman pencil on paper 44.5 x 29.2 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1948 Abstraction (Black and White Abstraction) enamel on paper 60 x 54.3 cm © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1948 Asheville oil and enamel paint on cardboard 64.9 x 80.9 cm The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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| 1948 Dark Pond enamel on composition board 118.7 x 141.6 cm Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA © The Willem de Kooning Foundation - Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
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