Willem de Kooning
Dutch-American
1904–1997
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) was a Dutch-American painter and one of the founders of Abstract Expressionism. Born in Rotterdam, he stowed away on a ship to the United States in 1926 and settled in New York, where he became central to the downtown art scene alongside Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline.
De Kooning refused to choose between abstraction and figuration. His Woman series (1950-53) shocked the art world by reintroducing the female figure into painting at a time when pure abstraction dominated. His aggressive brushwork and restless compositions influenced generations of painters. Interchange (1955) reportedly sold privately for $300 million in 2015. Our collection includes 3 works at MoMA.
3 paintings catalogued with museum locations
2 museums display Kooning's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.
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