Dutch
b. April 24, 1904, Rotterdam, Netherlands —
d. March 19, 1997, East Hampton, New York

Willem de Kooning was a leading figure in the New York Abstract Expressionist movement and is renowned for establishing a distinctly American style of expressive figurative and abstract paintings. In the 1950s, de Kooning exhibited his first Woman series, which shocked audiences with its wildly brushed depictions of menacing women. The show brought him international fame. In addition to figurative paintings, de Kooning created many landscapes and other abstract works, including cast bronze figures.

Born in the Netherlands, he immigrated to the New York area in 1926, where he supported himself as a house painter for several years. Like many artists in the late 1930’s, de Kooning worked painting murals for the art program of Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. In the 1940s, he became associated with the New York Abstract Expressionist movement teaching at the progressive Black Mountain College at the height of its artistic influence.

Today, Willem de Kooning’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate Gallery in London and the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland, as well as other major public and private art collections nationally and internationally.