Willem de Kooning

(Dutch, 1904-1989)

“I don’t paint to live, I live to paint.”
— Willem de Kooning

Many people saw celebrated painter Willem de Kooning as the leader of the famous New York avant-garde movement. Over nearly seven decades, he explored a variety of styles, becoming a critical link between the New York School and European modernism. He often focused on interpretations of and references to the female figure, which are among his most controversial works. Although he is associated with Abstract Expressionism, the artist generally rejected any label linking him with a specific movement, and was perpetually changing his practice. His work fluctuated between abstraction and figuration, and he often fused them. De Kooning was known to work very hard and long on a painting, and then scrape the canvas clean, repriming and beginning again repeatedly. Prestigious art critics Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg approved of much of de Kooning’s work, and their attention and interactions were driving forces in his career.

De Kooning was born in the Netherlands in 1904. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and he was raised mostly by his mother, who was a bartender. At 12, he left school and pursued an apprenticeship at a commercial design and decorating firm. He also studied at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts and Techniques before discovering interest in the then-current Dutch movement of De Stijl, led by Mondrian and van Doesburg, which had an abstract, pared down aesthetic and emphasized purity in color and form.

At age 22, he invited himself on a ship in August of 1926, stowing away to Virginia in the United States. He labored on a coal ship while traveling to Boston and as a house painter in Hoboken, New Jersey, before moving across the Hudson River to Manhattan. Once in New York, he took up jobs for several years in commercial art, designing window displays and fashion advertisements. A group of artists in New York encouraged him to pursue painting outside of commercial – to paint for himself. Inspiration from other artists such as Stuart Davis and John Graham, but mainly Arshile Gorky, who had spent years working with Picasso’s Cubism and Miró’s Surrealism, fueled de Kooning’s development. From 1935 to 1937, the Works Progress Administration recruited de Kooning to work on several murals under Fernand Leger, and he was able to focus on fine art for the first time. During this time, de Kooning’s works were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit New Horizons in American Art. Unfortunately, the WPA forced de Kooning to resign after they realized his lack of U.S. citizenship.

In the 1940s, de Kooning made significant contributions to the abstract expressionism movement, such as his piece, Pink Angels. In 1943, Willem married Elaine Fried, whom he had met when she took his drawing class in 1938, and with whom he would have a fiery relationship. In 1948, he held his first solo show at the Charles Egan Gallery. In the early ‘50s, on the advice of an acquaintance, he began intentionally using alcohol to attempt to manage his anxiety and heart palpitations; his reputation as a ranting alcoholic is widely known. He was awarded the Logan Medal and Purchase Prize from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1951, and delivered his now seminal lecture “What Abstract Art Means to Me” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Two years later, his figurative Women paintings were exhibited, which contradicted the doctrine of Abstract Expressionism and his prior work. They incorporated figuration, which had been superseded in the rush for abstraction. Critics, including Greenberg, considered it regressive or backsliding, to which de Kooning replied, “Flesh is the reason oil paint was invented.” Greenberg’s support was consequently lost, but, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, still purchased Woman I (1950–52) shortly after its initial exhibition.

During the 1950s, de Kooning achieved prominence, becoming possibly the most influential painter of the time. His first retrospective was held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1953, and just five years later, he declined the Museum of Modern Art’s invitation for a major retrospective. In the late ‘50s, he changed focus from figures to landscapes, and he and Elaine separated. Alcoholism, professional ambition, and infidelities had torn them apart. In 1961, in New York, de Kooning finally became an American citizen. He personally designed and built a studio and home in East Hampton, Long Island, moving there in 1963, and settling there for good in 1971. There he met and became friends with multiple high-profile individuals, including Paul McCartney of the Beatles. He and Elaine reconciled in the mid-1970s and remained together in Long Island, until Elaine’s death in 1989. De Kooning’s artistic career continued into the 1980s until Alzheimer’s disease impaired his memory and ability to paint. By 1989, he was suffering from considerable dementia, and granted his daughter, Lisa de Kooning, power of attorney. Some critics have questioned if works made after this point were “compromised” due to his mental state, but others have contended that Abstract Expressionism is intuitive, rather than intellectual. His daughter cared for him until 1997, when he passed away at the age of 92.

One of the principal and most admired of the Abstract Expressionist artists, de Kooning developed a radical style of painting, uniting Cubism, Surrealism, and Expressionism. His work exemplifies the vigorous, gestural styles quintessential to the movement. His retrospective held at MoMa in 2011-2012 made him one of the best-known artists of the twentieth century. Some of de Kooning's paintings have been sold in the twenty-first century for record prices. In September 2015, de Kooning's oil painting Interchange sold for $300 million, remaining the highest price paid for a painting at the time until November 2017. His masterpieces are in major institutions and collections all over the world.

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